Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Gradient Capital Advisors LLC

Gradient Capital Advisors LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 261 shares during the quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 344 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

GOOG stock opened at $186.87 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $194.16 and a 200-day moving average of $176.54.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were 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 in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company 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.