MSA Advisors LLC Sells 5,750 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

MSA Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 82,115 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,750 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 3.9% of MSA Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. MSA Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $17,247,208,000 after purchasing an additional 259,213 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 875,480 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% in the third 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. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,483,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,516,000 after purchasing an additional 144,170 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $167.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $148.20 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $182.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.36. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.