Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 351,105 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,061 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.2% of Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $66,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 344 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $187.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $193.42 and its 200 day moving average is $176.27. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.