Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 20,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 824 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.5% of Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,847,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after buying an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after buying an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 22.9% during the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 61,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,206,000 after acquiring an additional 11,481 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $175.42 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.79, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.66 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $191.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.14.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.