ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,769 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 299 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.44.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $200.21 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $185.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $202.29.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.