Farmers Trust Co. Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Farmers Trust Co. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 17.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,872 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the quarter. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.9% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares during the period. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,508,000 after buying an additional 8,201 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group grew its holdings in Alphabet by 93.6% in the 1st quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 3,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $595,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Pivotal Research began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $183.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 28,524 shares in the company, valued at $4,385,565. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 217,592 shares of company stock valued at $35,922,911. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $167.21 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $163.53 and a 200 day moving average of $168.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.