Operose Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Operose Advisors LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 25.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,662 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 928 shares during the period. Operose Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued 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 target price of $208.71.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $161.47 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day moving average is $169.86 and its 200 day moving average is $177.96. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % 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 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 118,497 shares of company stock valued at $20,837,150. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.