Capital Wealth Planning LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Capital Wealth Planning LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 40.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,841 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $165.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $185.70 and a 200-day moving average of $176.38. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.03 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 95,882 shares of company stock valued at $17,934,130 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned 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 $210.62.

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.