Equitable Trust Co. Acquires 7,611 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 166,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,611 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.5% of Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $29,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 400.0% in the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,149,304. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 243,372 shares of company stock worth $55,110,740. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.68.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $253.79 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $232.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $257.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

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.