Brown Financial Advisors Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Brown Financial Advisors trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 421 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.8% of Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,482,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its position in 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 worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 287.9% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer boosted 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. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 134,188 shares of company stock worth $25,036,883. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $170.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $192.59 and a 200 day moving average of $177.59. The company has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.14, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.