Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Inspire Trust Co. N.A.

Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.0% of Inspire Trust Co. N.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Inspire Trust Co. N.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Harrell Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $170.06 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The business’s fifty day moving average is $160.23 and its 200-day moving average is $176.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

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.