Liberty Capital Management Inc. Sells 560 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,626 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 560 shares during the quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&G PLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $2,240,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,738 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $927,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $185.43 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $193.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

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.