Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA Sells 5,030 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,580 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,030 shares during the quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Harrell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.2 %

GOOG opened at $187.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $192.78 and a 200 day moving average of $176.15.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Barclays raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.