Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Marotta Asset Management

Marotta Asset Management trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,479 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 245 shares during the quarter. Marotta Asset Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% during the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares during the period. abrdn plc grew its position in Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after acquiring an additional 611,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded down $2.43 on Friday, hitting $191.52. 7,404,656 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,864,744. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $182.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $207.08.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.