Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,605 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 98 shares during the quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $687,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $187.13 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $194.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.01. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results 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 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 98,919 shares of company stock valued at $18,528,318 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

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.