Simmons Bank Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Simmons Bank decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 98,295 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 267 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.4% of Simmons Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,607,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $513,024,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Alphabet by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 10,064,598 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,669,300,000 after acquiring an additional 2,136,128 shares during the period. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $331,700,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1 %

Alphabet stock opened at $164.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $187.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.55. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.03 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 97,182 shares of company stock valued at $18,192,354 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.