Romano Brothers AND Company Sells 172 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Romano Brothers AND Company lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 46,886 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 172 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of Romano Brothers AND Company’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $197.55 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.76. The stock has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.