First Western Trust Bank Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

First Western Trust Bank cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,876 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,937 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 365,927,668 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,056,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230,697 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its stake in Alphabet by 94,153.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 200,558,295 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,261,537,000 after acquiring an additional 200,345,509 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 61,587.1% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 130,046,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,539,004,000 after acquiring an additional 129,835,437 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Alphabet by 37.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 71,779,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,368,961,000 after acquiring an additional 19,612,974 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 71,490,715 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,435,034,000 after acquiring an additional 2,041,609 shares during the period. 27.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ann Mather sold 220 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.14, for a total transaction of $28,630.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,818 shares in the company, valued at $627,014.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Ann Mather sold 220 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.14, for a total transaction of $28,630.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,818 shares in the company, valued at $627,014.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 16,083 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $2,152,227.06. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 75,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,119,602.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 176,576 shares of company stock worth $23,425,367. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $0.94 during trading on Monday, reaching $137.88. The company had a trading volume of 9,554,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,870,496. The company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $134.60 and its 200-day moving average is $128.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.57 and a fifty-two week high of $142.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $64.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.13 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 22.46% and a return on equity of 25.24%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 5.74 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $123.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $120.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Wedbush began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, August 21st. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.69.

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, hardware, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.