Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,595 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 797 shares during the quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,551,533,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 5,712.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,367,831 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $831,810,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,689 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 10.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $169.93 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.30. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.