Provident Trust Co. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Provident Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,476,456 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,190 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 10.4% of Provident Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $576,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Holistic Planning LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18.2% during the third quarter. Holistic Planning LLC now owns 10,895 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after buying an additional 1,675 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $15,937,000. Source Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Source Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,227 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Beckerman Institutional LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $3,513,000. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 35,003 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,805,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $164.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $167.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.36. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.90 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

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.