Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Morse Asset Management Inc’s 5th Largest Position

Morse Asset Management Inc cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 83,368 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,189 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 3.0% of Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. First PREMIER Bank grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% in the third quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. MKT Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.6 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $188.40 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,590,960. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

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.