Busey Bank Has $24.72 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Busey Bank lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 176,945 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 9,326 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Busey Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Busey Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. DC Investments Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $114,000. Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC now owns 99 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Finally, Aspire Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $281,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,539 shares of company stock valued at $35,906,259 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. StockNews.com upgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.61.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.73 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.63 and a 1 year high of $160.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $145.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.86.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.