D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. Sells 556 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,119 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 556 shares during the quarter. D L Carlson Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $156.06 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $148.20 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $181.53 and a 200-day moving average of $178.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,097,111. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.