Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA

Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,507 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 185 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,171,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.95.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $179.08 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $168.70 and a 200-day moving average of $173.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.