Hills Bank & Trust Co Acquires 222 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Hills Bank & Trust Co grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,785 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $41,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its stake in Alphabet by 59.2% in the 1st quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 207,495 shares of company stock valued at $34,586,641 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $178.88 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $164.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.98. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.03. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.90 and a 1 year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.