Clarus Group Inc. Sells 1,799 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Clarus Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 16.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,799 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.6% of Clarus Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Clarus Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5 %

GOOG stock opened at $186.87 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.54. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders 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 (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet 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.