Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 189,628 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 878 shares during the quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Harrell Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $636,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on GOOG. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $185.43 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $193.70 and a 200 day moving average of $176.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.03, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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 expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS 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 paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.