Trivest Advisors Ltd Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Trivest Advisors Ltd lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 33.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 106,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 53,780 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.9% of Trivest Advisors Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Trivest Advisors Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,738 shares in the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $927,000. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 172.9% in the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,254,000 after purchasing an additional 57,810 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 44.2% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,032,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $172,620,000 after buying an additional 316,674 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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. Insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $162.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $147.01 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $186.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.