Sandy Spring Bank Sells 1,352 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sandy Spring Bank cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 143,827 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,352 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.0% of Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 487,435,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $63,785,809,000 after acquiring an additional 1,302,104 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 1,900.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 217,154,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,770,809,000 after purchasing an additional 206,300,042 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 111,197.8% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 170,420,243 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,036,178,000 after purchasing an additional 170,267,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 118,576,618 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,271,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499,107 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.00.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $155.47 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $145.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $140.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $102.63 and a one year high of $160.22. The company has a market cap of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.