WESPAC Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

WESPAC Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,231 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 371 shares during the quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 176,240 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,563,000 after acquiring an additional 11,034 shares during the period. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 4,989 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $950,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,449,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440 shares in the last quarter. Lutz Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Lutz Financial Services LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $2,897,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $177.37 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.66. 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 market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 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 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

About Alphabet

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.