Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by MWA Asset Management

MWA Asset Management lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 205 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.8% of MWA Asset Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. MWA Asset Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,148,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 344 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $187.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.