Truist Financial Corp Acquires 4,974 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,464,564 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,974 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 0.7% of Truist Financial Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $466,542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,662,809 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $513,024,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $170.33 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $190.58 and its 200-day moving average is $176.20. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,309 shares of company stock valued at $25,057,490. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.