Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Violich Capital Management Inc.’s 2nd Largest Position

Violich Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 361,775 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,400 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 9.0% of Violich Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Violich Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 23,696 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,513,000 after purchasing an additional 4,026 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 221,255 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,136,000 after buying an additional 19,828 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 155,640 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,640,000 after buying an additional 12,728 shares in the last quarter. Paladin Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Paladin Wealth LLC now owns 12,606 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,401,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principle Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 96,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $186.87 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $194.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.