Appleton Partners Inc. MA Has $29.40 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 154,394 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,934 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.2% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $29,403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after acquiring an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 65.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Alphabet by 182.1% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $422,331,000 after buying an additional 1,630,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after buying an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $188.20 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $193.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.