44 Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

44 Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,517 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. 44 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $855,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

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 value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $173.86 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $134.00 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50 day moving average is $188.21 and its 200-day moving average is $176.40.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.