Maple Capital Management Inc. Has $1.75 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Maple Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,255 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 433 shares during the quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake 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 valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup cut their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL 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 stock has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day moving average of $186.22 and a 200-day moving average of $176.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,882 shares of company stock valued at $17,934,130 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.