Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 55,312 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,311 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $174.99 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.95 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $190.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.91.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

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.