Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Sells 735 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,141 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 735 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,191,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $191.01 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $183.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,053 shares of company stock worth $27,559,701 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.