Ashburton Jersey Ltd Sells 4,726 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ashburton Jersey Ltd cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 124,862 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,726 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 7.6% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Veracity Capital LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in Alphabet by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 33.0% during the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 7,359 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $970,000 after buying an additional 1,826 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 27,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Finally, Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC now owns 8,238 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $168.99. The stock had a trading volume of 22,759,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,843,182. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.70 and a 52 week high of $176.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna raised their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.67.

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.