Cozad Asset Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 105,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 126 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.9% of Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $19,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $273,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after buying an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,014,000 after buying an additional 1,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 104,812 shares of company stock valued at $19,336,979. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $154.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.72. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.