Blair William & Co. IL Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Blair William & Co. IL cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,253,651 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 60,280 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.8% of Blair William & Co. IL’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $619,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $33,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.3 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $167.14 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $182.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.36.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

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.