Aufman Associates Inc Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Aufman Associates Inc decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Aufman Associates Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Community Bank N.A. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Absolute Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $273,000. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $145.60 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $145.38 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.