VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,587 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 663 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.1% of VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,378 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares during the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 202,008 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,470,000 after purchasing an additional 2,301 shares during the period. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $88,000. Grove Street Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $243,000. Finally, Compass Capital Corp MA ADV purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,079,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2 %

GOOG stock opened at $181.19 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $193.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.58. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 a total of 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.