West Oak Capital LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

West Oak Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 24,315 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 105 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.6% of West Oak Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,247,208,000 after buying an additional 259,213 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after buying an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after buying an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,688,743,000 after acquiring an additional 636,008 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 130,553 shares of company stock valued at $23,817,951 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $191.05 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $202.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $184.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.55. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Company 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.