Evercore Wealth Management LLC Sells 6,942 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Evercore Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,023,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,942 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.9% of Evercore Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Evercore Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $194,986,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 140.6% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 8,610 shares in the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $927,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Alphabet by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,184,399 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,384,039,000 after purchasing an additional 704,875 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $153.90 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.32.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Westpark Capital started coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.