Index Fund Advisors Inc. Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Index Fund Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 79 shares during the period. Index Fund Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $179.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $192.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.