Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 275,708 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,507 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.7% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $52,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% in the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 1.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 154,387 shares of company stock worth $27,748,931. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9 %

GOOGL traded down $1.80 during trading on Monday, hitting $190.24. 11,292,433 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,501,383. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $201.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $182.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.15.

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.