Forza Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Forza Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,449 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Forza Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $657,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 28,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,500,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 11,565 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,202,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares during the period. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,185 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $797,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 88,841 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,161,000 after purchasing an additional 5,079 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

Alphabet stock opened at $192.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.49. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $202.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total value of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. This represents a 1.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,053 shares of company stock worth $27,559,701 in the last 90 days. 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.