Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,257 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 522 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 37,288 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,059,000 after acquiring an additional 7,953 shares during the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 14,697 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,122,899 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $212,565,000 after acquiring an additional 7,568 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,300,198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $435,428,000 after acquiring an additional 72,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 43,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,214,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.03.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $160.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.08 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $184.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.96, 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.