Global Assets Advisory LLC Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Global Assets Advisory LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 22.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 320 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after acquiring an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $154.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.