WealthTrust Asset Management LLC Sells 452 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

WealthTrust Asset Management LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,787 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 452 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.5% of WealthTrust Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $120,834,000 after purchasing an additional 46,677 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. Saturna Capital Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 1,430,995 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $237,331,000 after purchasing an additional 4,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arjuna Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 102,574 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,012,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 104,812 shares of company stock valued at $19,336,979 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $162.24 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.22 and a 1-year high of $207.05. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.68.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.