Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Sells 535 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 535 shares during the quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.5 %

GOOG stock opened at $164.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $187.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.13 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.