Morton Community Bank Invests $3.23 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Morton Community Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 17,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,231,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 20,990.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,171,151,000 after acquiring an additional 6,157,413 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Alphabet by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,792,317,000 after acquiring an additional 4,694,621 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $513,024,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $163.99 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.22 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

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.