Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 50,341 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,612 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its position in 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 valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. 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. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” 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 given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $175.75 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.94. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $134.80 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS 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%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.