Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Nottingham Advisors Inc.

Nottingham Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 47.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,811 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,860 shares during the quarter. Nottingham Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,870,181,000 after buying an additional 875,480 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,843,149,000 after acquiring an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,483,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,615,516,000 after acquiring an additional 144,170 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective 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, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 87,297 shares of company stock worth $15,936,270. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $158.86 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $179.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.56. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $148.20 and a 1-year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. 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.