Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Cut by Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC

Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 180 shares during the period. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $968,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $154.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.72. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $147.22 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DZ Bank lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Ten 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.