M&T Bank Corp Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

M&T Bank Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,115,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,735 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $184,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $191.41 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $201.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $174.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.33. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.