Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Sells 10,038 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,472,484 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 10,038 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 5.5% of Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $280,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $33,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $165.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $184.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $148.01 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank raised their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.