WESPAC Advisors LLC Sells 6,983 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

WESPAC Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 59.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,834 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,983 shares during the quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in Alphabet by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 1,599,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $265,260,000 after purchasing an additional 129,100 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 299,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $49,746,000 after purchasing an additional 6,344 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its stake in Alphabet by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 2,510 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 21,228.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 716,199 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $118,782,000 after purchasing an additional 712,841 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $173.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $188.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.40. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.00 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 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, DZ Bank cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

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.