Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 107,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 12,033 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.6% of Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,364,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $163.96 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

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.