James J. Burns & Company LLC Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

James J. Burns & Company LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,066 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,573 shares during the quarter. James J. Burns & Company LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 87.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 32.3% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 344 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $187.14 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $192.78 and a 200 day moving average of $176.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Company 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.