Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Greenwood Capital Associates LLC

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 122,669 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,844 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.0% of Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Denver PWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% during the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $186.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.