Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Wellington Shields & Co. LLC

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,909 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 170 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.9% of Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First National Trust Co grew its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 291,637 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $55,207,000 after buying an additional 6,265 shares during the period. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,886,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 7,567 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,432,000 after buying an additional 725 shares during the period. Postrock Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $9,116,000. Finally, Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 37.9% in the 4th quarter. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. now owns 13,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after buying an additional 3,605 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $165.06 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $181.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.22 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.