Hills Bank & Trust Co Sells 2,661 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Hills Bank & Trust Co lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 126,116 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,661 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.6% of Hills Bank & Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during 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 position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $37,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $172.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $128.11 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.43.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at $354,310,204.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 230,244 shares of company stock valued at $37,776,954. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.