Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 1,235 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Congress Asset Management Co. reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,958 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,235 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its position 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 worth $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,029 shares of company stock worth $12,625,003. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $185.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.07, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $194.56 and its 200 day moving average is $176.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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