Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Homestead Advisers Corp

Homestead Advisers Corp trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 15.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 432,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 81,900 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.0% of Homestead Advisers Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Homestead Advisers Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $82,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $167.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $182.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.36. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.