Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 99.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,737 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 18,682,857 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.5% of International Assets Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Denver PWM LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the third quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $607,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. MKT Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the third quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% in the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.82.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $0.80 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $194.69. The stock had a trading volume of 7,300,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,953,184. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $181.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.