Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 928,344 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,389 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.5% of Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $176,794,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $196.59. 8,214,142 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,984,667. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $202.88. The company’s 50-day moving average is $182.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.23. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.07, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.