Smithfield Trust Co Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Smithfield Trust Co cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,825 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 183 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,099,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.5% during the third quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 30,242 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.4% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 552,019 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,552,000 after purchasing an additional 23,333 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 29.5% in the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 5,189 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,181 shares in the last quarter. Makena Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Makena Capital Management LLC now owns 91,834 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,231,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, German American Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.9% in the third quarter. German American Bancorp Inc. now owns 201,974 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,497,000 after acquiring an additional 12,966 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. The trade was a 27.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 163,624 shares of company stock worth $27,803,730. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $172.64 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.31. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $129.68 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.