First National Trust Co Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

First National Trust Co lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 264,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 15,477 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.7% of First National Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $46,671,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Gimbal Financial grew its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the second quarter. Gimbal Financial now owns 2,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Missouri Trust & Investment Co lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 16,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,981,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 6,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 10,428 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,838,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Council LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Council LLC now owns 5,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total value of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,253,567.20. The trade was a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 222,396 shares of company stock worth $54,105,275. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $278.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.50, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s 50 day moving average is $251.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.56. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $291.59.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $306.00 price objective (up from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. New Street Research boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.10.

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.