Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Position Decreased by Enterprise Financial Services Corp

Enterprise Financial Services Corp decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.4% of Enterprise Financial Services Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Enterprise Financial Services Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 81,076 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,348,000 after buying an additional 3,201 shares in the last quarter. Miramar Capital LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 87,552 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,574,000 after buying an additional 10,528 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Frontier Asset Management LLC now owns 1,592 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Argentarii LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,883,000. Finally, Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,804 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,424,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

Alphabet stock opened at $163.99 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.22 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given 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 target price of $210.59.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % 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, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. 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.