Carnegie Investment Counsel Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Carnegie Investment Counsel trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 419,119 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,201 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.3% of Carnegie Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $79,339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $32,000. Denver PWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% in the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $184.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.42. 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 market cap 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 one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.