Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Tortoise Investment Management LLC

Tortoise Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,147 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 182 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $120,834,000 after purchasing an additional 46,677 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. Holistic Planning LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Holistic Planning LLC now owns 10,895 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 3,476,456 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $576,570,000 after purchasing an additional 36,190 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $163.99 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.51. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.22 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

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.