Colonial Trust Advisors Sells 1,486 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Colonial Trust Advisors lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,841 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,486 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 580,897.4% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,022,926,000 after purchasing an additional 441,177 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% during the second quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 35,357,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,272,146,000 after buying an additional 2,117,990 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total transaction of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,253,567.20. This trade represents a 0.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,884.14. The trade was a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 227,850 shares of company stock worth $58,874,814. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $304.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $320.28 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $268.53 and a 200-day moving average of $218.44. The company has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $328.67. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

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.