Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Reduced by Bridgewater Advisors Inc.

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 38,399 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 380 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Providence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 54.5% during the 2nd quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 87,333 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,019,000 after buying an additional 30,801 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $256,000. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 7.3% during the second quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,025 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,498 shares during the last quarter. Treynor Bancshares Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $211,000. Finally, K2 Principal Fund L.P. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 350.4% during the 2nd quarter. K2 Principal Fund L.P. now owns 6,756 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,239,000 after purchasing an additional 5,256 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1 %

Alphabet stock opened at $199.63 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $186.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $203.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

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.