Grove Bank & Trust Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Grove Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 42,397 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,210 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.1% of Grove Bank & Trust’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $261,000. Ballast Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 4,736 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC now owns 9,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,789,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 9,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,727,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Ridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 223,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,589,000 after purchasing an additional 12,622 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $197.55 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $202.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.76.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.