Provident Trust Co. Buys 35,123 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Provident Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,496,803 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 35,123 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 10.5% of Provident Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $584,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 51.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at $56,765,168.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 242,552 shares of company stock worth $40,287,253. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $179.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.85, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.40 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.