Smart Portfolios LLC Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Smart Portfolios LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,905 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 452 shares during the quarter. Smart Portfolios LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $739,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $120,834,000 after purchasing an additional 46,677 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares during the period. Objective Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,820,000. Finally, Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,617 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $163.99 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization 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. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.22 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $182.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.65.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.