Romano Brothers AND Company Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Romano Brothers AND Company lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,130 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 270 shares during the quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Denver PWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 15,078 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,892,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 7,433 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,407,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,386 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2 %

Alphabet stock opened at $198.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.38. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $202.29. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.67.

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.