Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,505 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 348 shares during the period. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $162.79 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $162.48 and a 200 day moving average of $177.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.