Compass Ion Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Compass Ion Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,689 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,969 shares during the quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’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 sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 104,812 shares of company stock valued at $19,336,979. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $154.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $147.22 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $179.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

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.