Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 223,281 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,671 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.0% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $42,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,511 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,544,297 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,177,000 after purchasing an additional 92,556 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after purchasing an additional 51,226 shares in the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 4,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $796,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospect Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 37,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,311,000 after purchasing an additional 859 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $185.43 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $193.70 and a 200-day moving average of $176.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.03, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current 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 (EPS) 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. Corporate 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.