Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Sells 255 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 128,869 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 255 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.6% of Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 287.9% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $165.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $148.01 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.