Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Reduced by Dillon & Associates Inc.

Dillon & Associates Inc. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 196,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 277 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 5.1% of Dillon & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $37,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $157.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $177.19 and a 200 day moving average of $176.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.51, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $147.22 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 87,297 shares of company stock valued at $15,936,270 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, DZ Bank cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.49.

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.