Wesbanco Bank Inc. Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,638 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,260 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after acquiring an additional 11,646 shares during the period. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group increased its position in Alphabet by 93.6% during the 1st quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 3,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $595,000 after buying an additional 1,890 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $166.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Pivotal Research assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $403,141,173.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 216,092 shares of company stock worth $35,644,136 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.