Rockland Trust Co. Purchases 1,989 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Rockland Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 420,032 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,989 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 4.0% of Rockland Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $79,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 587.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Alphabet by 116.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $807,700,000 after buying an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.15.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $192.91 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $183.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.