Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Kensington Investment Counsel LLC

Kensington Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,715 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 320 shares during the period. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $517,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB grew its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,394,181,000 after purchasing an additional 51,226 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Aljian Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 90,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,847 shares during the period. Phillips Financial Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 4,715.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 8,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 7,922 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6 %

GOOG opened at $166.57 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.01 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.