Carderock Capital Management Inc. Has $12.07 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Carderock Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,756 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,517 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 3.0% of Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,069,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lantz Financial LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 10.8% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $218,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 30.8% in the second quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 36,108 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after purchasing an additional 8,511 shares in the last quarter. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 7.2% in the second quarter. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC now owns 5,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $947,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.2% in the second quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $196.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $184.43 and its 200 day moving average is $173.25. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $201.42.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.