Grant GrossMendelsohn LLC Sells 708 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Grant GrossMendelsohn LLC lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,166 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 708 shares during the quarter. Grant GrossMendelsohn LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Walker Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 3,007 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 133,449 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $25,262,000 after purchasing an additional 37,449 shares in the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 27,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,277,000 after buying an additional 3,153 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. CNB Bank now owns 21,095 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,993,000 after buying an additional 2,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Saxon Interests Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 2,982 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $565,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Nine 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, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.15.

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.