Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stake Lessened by Central Bank & Trust Co.

Central Bank & Trust Co. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,313 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 148 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.1% during the third quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% during the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 8,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Phillips Financial Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% during the third quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $200.03 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $186.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.89. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $203.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s payout ratio 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.