GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 404 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 23,677 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108 shares during the last quarter. McHugh Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $3,142,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 33.4% in the 4th quarter. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 62,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,908,000 after purchasing an additional 15,763 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 26,695 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,105,000 after purchasing an additional 7,171 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 64,081 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,130,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. China Renaissance upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $185.23 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $192.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.17. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Alphabet Company 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.