Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Sells 50,534 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 288,796 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 50,534 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.5% of Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $54,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 1,368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $166.28 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.02. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $147.67 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly 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%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. 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.