KBC Group NV Acquires 2,062,219 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 31.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,643,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,062,219 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 4.1% of KBC Group NV’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,533,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RDA Financial Network grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 11,094 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 170,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,160,000 after buying an additional 2,304 shares in the last quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Finally, Dock Street Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 234,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,563,000 after acquiring an additional 1,970 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.33, for a total transaction of $269,342.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,098,584.61. This represents a 6.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 221,796 shares of company stock worth $53,983,001. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5%

GOOG stock opened at $287.43 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $292.36. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $256.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $208.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

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.