Wintrust Investments LLC Sells 179 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wintrust Investments LLC decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,379 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 179 shares during the quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 1,924 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 2,862,762 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $547,475,000 after buying an additional 207,705 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,348,875 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $247,605,000 after buying an additional 142,583 shares in the last quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $11,358,000. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111.2% in the 4th quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,040,359 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $196,956,000 after acquiring an additional 547,786 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % 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. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. DZ Bank cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $167.68 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.22 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

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.