Wesbanco Bank Inc. Purchases 3,879 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 375,099 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,879 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.4% of Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $71,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 19.0% during the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $191.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.66 and a 1-year high of $202.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.57.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.82.

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.