Vestcor Inc Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Vestcor Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 135,123 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,059 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.7% of Vestcor Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,490,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Value Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 73,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,873,000 after acquiring an additional 13,564 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $196.09 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $179.76 and a 200-day moving average of $173.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.