Salomon & Ludwin LLC Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Salomon & Ludwin LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 55 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $94,000. Hickory Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $446,000. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 49.3% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,766,000 after buying an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Empire Life Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. now owns 290,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $55,270,000 after buying an additional 21,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $956,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $185.67 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.81. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,029 shares of company stock valued at $12,625,003 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.