Simmons Bank Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Simmons Bank increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,605 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.2% of Simmons Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $55,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,160,251.80. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $169.12 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.90 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $168.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

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.