Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Tufton Capital Management

Tufton Capital Management decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,026 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 270 shares during the quarter. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock valued at $17,934,130 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $162.76 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.03 and a 12 month high of $207.05. 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 $186.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.39. The company has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Ten equities research 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

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.