Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Quilter Plc

Quilter Plc reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 104,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 11,145 shares during the period. Quilter Plc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $19,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $149,000. Fonville Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $469,000. Finally, Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 153,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,164,000 after purchasing an additional 11,138 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $187.88 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $193.89 and its 200-day moving average is $176.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.