First Bank & Trust Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 123 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $170.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $207.05. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $189.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

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.