Hancock Whitney Corp Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Hancock Whitney Corp reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 848 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,109,000 after buying an additional 3,924 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,283 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its position in Alphabet by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 91,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,842,000 after purchasing an additional 42,402 shares during the period. Finally, Glassman Wealth Services lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 25,719 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,625,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $164.64 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $166.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.02.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.