First County Bank CT Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First County Bank CT lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 871 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.7% of First County Bank CT’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 210,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842 shares in the last quarter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 49.6% during the second quarter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC now owns 1,765 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% in the second quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 32,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,966,000 after purchasing an additional 2,041 shares during the period. Stokes Family Office LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% in the second quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 28,165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,130,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 25 LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $236,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $172.64 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.68 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average is $169.30 and its 200 day moving average is $170.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 163,624 shares of company stock valued at $27,803,730 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet 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.