Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 20,944 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 936,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 20,944 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $178,321,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,097,111. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $156.06 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.69. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.