First County Bank CT Sells 3,759 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First County Bank CT reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,729 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,759 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 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 reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.5% during the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 27.9% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,516 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its position in Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after purchasing an additional 611,233 shares during the period. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.82.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6 %

GOOGL stock traded down $1.25 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $195.62. 18,864,397 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,709,273. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.94, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.60. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. 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.