Hills Bank & Trust Co Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Hills Bank & Trust Co cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 124,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,194 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.8% of Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 287.9% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $167.62 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.13 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $187.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

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.