Patten Group Inc. Sells 535 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Patten Group Inc. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 18,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 535 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Patten Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,530,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $174.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.74, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.95 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.91.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.