Inspire Trust Co. N.A. Purchases 1,500 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.0% of Inspire Trust Co. N.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Inspire Trust Co. N.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,606 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,353,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,113 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,545,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. RoundAngle Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $263,000. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 30,043 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,721,000 after purchasing an additional 3,587 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $170.06 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $160.23 and its 200-day moving average is $176.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Company 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.