First County Bank CT Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First County Bank CT lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,729 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,759 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.8% of First County Bank CT’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Denver PWM LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.7% during the third quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. MKT Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the third quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% in the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities lowered Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.82.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $1.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $195.62. The company had a trading volume of 18,864,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,709,273. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $172.60. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $3,961,445.55. The trade was a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.