Affinity Capital Advisors LLC Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Affinity Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,285 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 185 shares during the period. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $218,000. Vance Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.0% during the second quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.0% during the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 46,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 17.8% during the second quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,214 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,771,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $195.55 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $183.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.15.

About Alphabet

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.