Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Reduced by Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,131 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 172 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Denver PWM LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% during the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.3 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $185.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.