Northwest Bank & Trust Co Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Northwest Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.8% of Northwest Bank & Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Northwest Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Alphabet by 51.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 178,253.1% in the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $304,691,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,000 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $163.74. 4,381,155 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,795,133. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $163.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $121.46 and a 12-month high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total value of $3,759,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Pivotal Research initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $184.11.

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.