Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Trimmed by Wharton Business Group LLC

Wharton Business Group LLC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,545 shares during the quarter. Wharton Business Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,611,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares during the period. abrdn plc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after acquiring an additional 611,233 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 22.9% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 61,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,206,000 after acquiring an additional 11,481 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $173.86 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $134.00 and a one year 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $188.21 and its 200 day moving average is $176.47. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. 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.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

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.