Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Sells 19,150 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 229,824 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 19,150 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 4.8% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $43,506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Drake & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 43.1% during the third quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 4,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328 shares during the period. Vista Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,593 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. NatWest Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 24.4% during the third quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 93,419 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,494,000 after acquiring an additional 18,337 shares during the period. Finally, Strid Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $180,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $179.25 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $192.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.05. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors 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 yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.