Keystone Financial Services Acquires 444 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Keystone Financial Services raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,942 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the quarter. Keystone Financial Services’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after acquiring an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,962,389,000 after acquiring an additional 104,859 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $343.00 target price (up from $280.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. The trade was a 1.37% 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. This trade represents a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 192,674 shares of company stock worth $48,454,423. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1%

GOOGL opened at $289.45 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $306.42. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $261.21 and a 200-day moving average of $212.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.