Eastern Bank Buys 475,488 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Eastern Bank lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 119.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 872,890 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 475,488 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.6% of Eastern Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $144,769,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064,073 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 14.4% in 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 buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after buying an additional 238,403 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,344,778,000 after purchasing an additional 597,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,274,184,000 after buying an additional 418,204 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $171.29 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $168.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $126.93 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were 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 directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 230,244 shares of company stock valued at $37,776,954. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.51.

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.