Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 81,923 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,112 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.2% of Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after purchasing an additional 51,226 shares during the last quarter. United Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 50.5% during the 3rd quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,908 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,646 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 26,145 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,812 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 1,055,056 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $176,395,000 after purchasing an additional 3,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arista Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 39.7% during the 3rd quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $174.99 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $190.68 and a 200 day moving average of $177.91. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.95 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization 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 current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 presently 9.94%.

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.