Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stake Reduced by Sterling Investment Management LLC

Sterling Investment Management LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 25,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 255 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 3.8% of Sterling Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 258,802 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,979,000 after buying an additional 8,033 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 20,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,936,000 after acquiring an additional 1,427 shares during the last quarter. AFG Fiduciary Services Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $220,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,539,691 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $483,659,000 after purchasing an additional 506,187 shares during the period. Finally, Genesis Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $458,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $201.90 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $187.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.23. The company has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $203.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Alphabet 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.