Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Position Lifted by Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA

Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,855 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 2.6% of Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Denver PWM LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.