Barr E S & Co. Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Barr E S & Co. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 217,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 574 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.4% of Barr E S & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Barr E S & Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $41,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% during the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 115,663 shares of company stock valued at $20,286,447. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $153.33 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.98. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.46.

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.