Confluence Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Confluence Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 287,913 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,951 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $54,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Heritage Family Offices LLP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $227,000. Gouws Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Gouws Capital LLC now owns 57,335 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,516,000 after acquiring an additional 1,780 shares during the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 280,031 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $51,363,000 after purchasing an additional 10,093 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 39,653 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,273,000 after purchasing an additional 12,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 33,580 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,478 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 137,588 shares of company stock worth $24,473,081 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.00 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $191.44. 5,097,255 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,706,879. The business has a 50-day moving average of $180.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Barclays boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

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.