First Business Financial Services Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First Business Financial Services Inc. cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,231 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 63 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.7% of First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after buying an additional 238,403 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,178,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,310,925,000 after buying an additional 1,429,261 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $222.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 180,167 shares of company stock worth $29,762,606 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $159.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $165.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.13.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Alphabet Company 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.