Covey Capital Advisors LLC Sells 1,927 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Covey Capital Advisors LLC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,927 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 5.1% of Covey Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Covey Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after acquiring an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after purchasing an additional 523,416 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

GOOGL opened at $173.02 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $189.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.85 and a fifty-two week 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 1.84.

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, beating 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 predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.