Cynosure Group LLC Has $338,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cynosure Group LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 54.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,775 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,086 shares during the quarter. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,870,181,000 after acquiring an additional 875,480 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $5,166,070,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,483,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,516,000 after purchasing an additional 144,170 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $158.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $148.20 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $179.06 and its 200-day moving average is $178.56.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 87,297 shares of company stock worth $15,936,270 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Westpark Capital began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.65.

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.