Balboa Wealth Partners Sells 2,484 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Balboa Wealth Partners decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,484 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.0% of Balboa Wealth Partners’ portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after acquiring an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the third quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 31,701 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 100,510 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,804,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 37.2% during the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 12,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,049,000 after buying an additional 3,322 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,682 shares of company stock worth $17,901,024. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $169.00 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $188.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.01 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced 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%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.