Washington Trust Bank Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Washington Trust Bank boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 92,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,023 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.4% of Washington Trust Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Gimbal Financial raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the second quarter. Gimbal Financial now owns 2,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 16,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,981,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,317 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $761,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 6,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 10,428 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,838,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $284.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $293.95. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $259.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 189,896 shares of company stock valued at $47,653,637. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, October 27th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. CICC Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.33.

About Alphabet

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.