Heritage Trust Co Makes New $13.46 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Heritage Trust Co bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 71,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,457,000. Alphabet accounts for about 1.6% of Heritage Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 115,663 shares of company stock worth $20,286,447 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $156.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average is $167.17 and its 200-day moving average is $176.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.