Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,386 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 350 shares during the period. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,385,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,216,127,000 after purchasing an additional 400,007 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 161,558 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,767,000 after buying an additional 4,443 shares during the last quarter. Portland Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Portland Global Advisors LLC now owns 4,189 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $798,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in Alphabet by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,607,560 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $496,584,000 after acquiring an additional 302,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Okabena Investment Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 21,063 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,011,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $156.06 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $148.20 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.51. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current 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 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.