Wallace Advisory Group LLC Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wallace Advisory Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 17.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,353 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,751 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.1% of Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,591,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. M&G PLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,738 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 172.9% during the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,254,000 after acquiring an additional 57,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 130,553 shares of company stock valued at $23,817,951 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $191.05 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $184.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.55.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.