Farmers Trust Co. Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Farmers Trust Co. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 66,023 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,334 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.9% of Farmers Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $171.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $159.12 and a 200 day moving average of $174.68. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.