First Western Trust Bank Acquires 2,907 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

First Western Trust Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 24.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,822 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,907 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 7,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,008,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 2,167 shares during the period. Vestor Capital LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 263,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,084,000 after purchasing an additional 21,044 shares in the last quarter. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $245,000. Finally, Summa Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $665,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,629 shares of company stock valued at $37,091,240 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.67.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $171.58. 11,914,729 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,523,879. 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 $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $153.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.40. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $108.48 and a 52 week high of $176.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.