Dillon & Associates Inc. Sells 590 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Dillon & Associates Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,472 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 590 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.7% of Dillon & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $166.25 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $148.20 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.