Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Hills Bank & Trust Co

Hills Bank & Trust Co cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,546 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 239 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $861,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. The trade was a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $165.06 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $181.11 and its 200-day moving average is $176.78.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

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.