Marotta Asset Management Sells 245 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Marotta Asset Management decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,479 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 245 shares during the quarter. Marotta Asset Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CJM Wealth Advisers Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. CJM Wealth Advisers Ltd. now owns 4,774 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $904,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 9,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,736,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC now owns 19,494 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,811,000 after buying an additional 910 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 8,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,640,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Group Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $191.52. The company had a trading volume of 7,404,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,864,744. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.