Essex Savings Bank Sells 1,518 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Essex Savings Bank decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 31,351 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,518 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.2% of Essex Savings Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Essex Savings Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $177.23 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $165.52 and a 200-day moving average of $176.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.