First Financial Bank Trust Division Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First Financial Bank Trust Division decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 85,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,639 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.5% of First Financial Bank Trust Division’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 17.0% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 5,516 shares during the period. abrdn plc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 10.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after purchasing an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 154,519 shares of company stock worth $27,734,316 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $189.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,816,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,460,176. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week 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 firm has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $179.17 and its 200-day moving average is $172.28.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm 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 in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.