Wesbanco Bank Inc. Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 371,137 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,962 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.0% of Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $57,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. AHL Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,218 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Single Point Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.9% during the first quarter. Single Point Partners LLC now owns 6,588 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,019,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the period. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 19.3% in the first quarter. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC now owns 1,824 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.4% during the first quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 11,122 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,720,000 after buying an additional 952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.0% during the first quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 413,802 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $63,990,000 after purchasing an additional 15,878 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $1.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $174.67. The company had a trading volume of 27,636,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,391,072. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $162.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.57.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet 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.