Bell Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bell Bank grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 38,989 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,817 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $169.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.90 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $168.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital raised their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at $339,160,251.80. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were 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 trade 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 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.