Berkeley Capital Partners LLC Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Berkeley Capital Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 116 shares during the quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 644,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $122,816,000 after acquiring an additional 19,092 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 776.0% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 296,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $56,463,000 after acquiring an additional 262,640 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 46.0% during the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 29,629 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,643,000 after acquiring an additional 9,329 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 36,472 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,946,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sandy Spring Bank boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 207,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $39,519,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $166.28 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $185.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.02. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.67 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. 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:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued 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 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Alphabet

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.