Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Conservest Capital Advisors Inc.

Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 160 shares during the quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 107,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,827,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735 shares during the period. CacheTech Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.9% in the third quarter. CacheTech Inc. now owns 17,505 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,903,000 after acquiring an additional 973 shares during the period. Cambiar Investors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 352,764 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018 shares during the period. Finally, Weatherly Asset Management L. P. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the third quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 107,148 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,731 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % 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 Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $165.49 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 capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $185.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. 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 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Ten equities 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

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.