Carret Asset Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Carret Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,119 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,862 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 7,567 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. Postrock Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $9,116,000. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 37.9% in the fourth quarter. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. now owns 13,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,484,000 after purchasing an additional 3,605 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 491.4% during the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 149,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,300,000 after buying an additional 124,220 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,909 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $170.56 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.22 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.86.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly 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%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.