Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Northwest Bancshares Inc.

Northwest Bancshares Inc. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 970 shares during the quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 184,295 shares of company stock worth $30,698,791 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $179.58 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.40 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $168.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.87.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.