Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by CRA Financial Services LLC

CRA Financial Services LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 26,629 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 77 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of CRA Financial Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. CRA Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd 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 valued at $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $422,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $181.58 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $194.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

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.