Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 9,139 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 440,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 9,139 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.1% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $83,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $120,834,000 after acquiring an additional 46,677 shares during the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 10,227 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,739 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,480 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.0 %

GOOGL opened at $163.89 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.47. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.74 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS 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%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

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.