Everence Capital Management Inc. Sells 31,930 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Everence Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 124,790 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 31,930 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.5% of Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,623,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.5% during the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 27.9% during the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,516 shares during the period. abrdn plc increased its position in Alphabet by 10.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after buying an additional 611,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,567,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $1.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $191.33. The stock had a trading volume of 6,784,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,296,021. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $179.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $172.40. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.38, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 154,519 shares of company stock valued at $27,734,316 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.44.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.