Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 7,207 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 425,005 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,207 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.9% of Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $80,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.0% during the third quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 62,452 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,358,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.5% in the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 18,062 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,996,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% in the third quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 70,991 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,774,000 after acquiring an additional 3,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Harbor Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% in the third quarter. Royal Harbor Partners LLC now owns 18,881 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,131,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 95,882 shares of company stock valued at $17,934,130 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $165.49 on Friday. 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 cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.03 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $185.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.46.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Alphabet Company 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.