Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Sells 5,059 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 231,109 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,059 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 3.7% of Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,247,208,000 after acquiring an additional 259,213 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,870,181,000 after acquiring an additional 875,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $175.75 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $189.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.94. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.80 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.