Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 73,837 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,486 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.4% of Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $165.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.22 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $181.11 and its 200 day moving average is $176.78.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.