Sunflower Bank N.A. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,145 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.4% of Sunflower Bank N.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Sunflower Bank N.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after buying an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after buying an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after buying an additional 611,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,567,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four 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 price target of $208.15.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 153,053 shares of company stock worth $27,559,701. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $191.01 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.