Arbor Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Arbor Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,398 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 416 shares during the quarter. Arbor Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. M&G PLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $2,240,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 14.4% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,738 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $927,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $177.37 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company’s fifty day moving average is $193.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.66. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.