Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $64.48 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 338,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 11,793 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 4.3% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $64,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $1.89 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $193.50. 6,977,692 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,637,823. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $183.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.52. The company has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.