WoodTrust Financial Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

WoodTrust Financial Corp increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 56,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,347 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.1% of WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Alphabet by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,334,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,996 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,380,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,183,979,000 after purchasing an additional 440,526 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.00.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $237.49 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $226.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.66. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $256.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.