Brown Financial Advisors Sells 421 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Brown Financial Advisors reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 421 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.8% of Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,247,208,000 after buying an additional 259,213 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% during the third 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 worth $5,573,125,000 after buying an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 9.1% in 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, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $170.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $192.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.59. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 134,188 shares of company stock worth $25,036,883. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

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.