Castle Wealth Management LLC Sells 241 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Castle Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 241 shares during the period. Castle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,954,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Denver PWM LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 25.4% during the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Ten 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $179.66 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.