Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Bank & Trust Co

Bank & Trust Co lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,596 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 144 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Blue Barn Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC now owns 6,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $44,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $202,000. Northwest Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,642 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 435,426 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $79,866,000 after buying an additional 18,721 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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 owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of GOOG traded down $0.59 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $197.37. The stock had a trading volume of 7,673,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,248,133. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $202.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s fifty day moving average is $182.36 and its 200 day moving average is $174.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. 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 payout ratio 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.