Trust Investment Advisors Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Trust Investment Advisors reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,946 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 527 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.5% of Trust Investment Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Trust Investment Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $172.79 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $148.20 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $183.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.44. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.46, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.