Exchange Bank Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Exchange Bank reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,546 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 311 shares during the period. Exchange Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 34,103,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,494,655,000 after purchasing an additional 769,335 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,334,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,380,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,183,979,000 after purchasing an additional 440,526 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $251.42 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $205.68 and a 200-day moving average of $179.98. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $253.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 225,588 shares of company stock worth $44,296,554. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.56.

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.