Simmons Bank Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Simmons Bank grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 98,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,605 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.2% of Simmons Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after buying an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $169.12 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $168.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $170.35. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.90 and a 12-month high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.