Iowa State Bank Buys 348 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Iowa State Bank lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 50,783 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.0% of Iowa State Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $218,000. Vance Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the second quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 38.4% in the second quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 2,917 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after buying an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 46,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,429,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Roth Mkm increased their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.82.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $5.69 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $197.48. 15,307,571 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,883,203. The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.