Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stake Lowered by Successful Portfolios LLC

Successful Portfolios LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,344 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 630 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.2% of Successful Portfolios LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Successful Portfolios LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,779,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Annex Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,113 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,545,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. Client 1ST Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,617,000. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 42,397 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,074,000 after buying an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $261,000. Finally, Ballast Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 4,736 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $902,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $199.63 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.83. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $203.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.48, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company 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 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Citigroup increased their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.