Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Gamco Investors INC. ET AL

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 231,735 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 11,845 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,132,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 12.9% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after buying an additional 1,546 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.71.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,497 shares of company stock worth $20,837,150 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $161.47 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $169.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.96. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.