Canal Capital Management LLC Sells 327 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Canal Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,819 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 327 shares during the period. Canal Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 12.9% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after buying an additional 1,546 shares during the period. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group increased its stake in Alphabet by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $153.36 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. 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 $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $167.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.62.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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