Cadence Bank Sells 722 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cadence Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,013 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 722 shares during the period. Cadence Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 360.1% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,083,000 after acquiring an additional 15,848 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,980,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $460,000. Montchanin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $5,871,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 10,008 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,524,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

GOOG stock opened at $170.62 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $169.51 and its 200 day moving average is $171.86. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.40 and a 1-year high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. The trade was a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is 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.