Farther Finance Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 116,637 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 728 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 20,990.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,171,151,000 after buying an additional 6,157,413 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in Alphabet by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,792,317,000 after purchasing an additional 4,694,621 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $513,024,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $163.99 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.65. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.22 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

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.