Baker Chad R Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Baker Chad R lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 130,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 4.8% of Baker Chad R’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Baker Chad R’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after purchasing an additional 523,416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.15.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $184.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.