Montag A & Associates Inc. Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Montag A & Associates Inc. cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,793 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,541 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of Montag A & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,623,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 116.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,662,809 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $513,024,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,188 shares of company stock valued at $25,036,883 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.6 %

GOOGL stock opened at $168.27 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $191.00 and its 200 day moving average is $176.06. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

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.