CoreFirst Bank & Trust Takes $360,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,890 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $360,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,261,000 after buying an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 12,240 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,046,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 70,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,799,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 157,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,351,000 after acquiring an additional 60,325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $169.93 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $183.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.30. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

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.