Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by MSA Advisors LLC

MSA Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,115 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,750 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.9% of MSA Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. MSA Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % 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 three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $167.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $148.20 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.36.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.