American National Bank Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

American National Bank trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,986 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 279 shares during the quarter. American National Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Veracity Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $859,000 after buying an additional 1,230 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 15,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after buying an additional 4,044 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 14,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,102,000 after buying an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.67.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total value of $1,826,979.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 48,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,365,523.23. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total value of $1,826,979.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 48,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,365,523.23. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 135,958 shares of company stock worth $22,383,553. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $180.26 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.83 and a fifty-two week high of $182.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $171.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.