Wesbanco Bank Inc. Buys 1,014 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 80,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,014 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after buying an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Alphabet by 182.1% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $422,331,000 after buying an additional 1,630,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $201.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $203.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly 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. 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 revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,084,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price objective 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.13.

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.