Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by First Bank & Trust

First Bank & Trust increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dixon Fnancial Services Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 18.6% in the third quarter. Dixon Fnancial Services Inc. now owns 2,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. now owns 3,549 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $589,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 145,796 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,745 shares in the last quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.5% in the third quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 14,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278 shares during the period. Finally, Grassi Investment Management grew its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the third quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 55,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,212,000 after buying an additional 1,555 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. DZ Bank cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $170.92 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $189.52 and a 200-day moving average of $176.41. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.