Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Lipe & Dalton’s 2nd Largest Position

Lipe & Dalton cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,686 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,059 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 5.9% of Lipe & Dalton’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Lipe & Dalton’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $177.37 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.03, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $193.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.66. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective 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. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

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.