Clearbridge Investments LLC Has $178.32 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 936,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 20,944 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $178,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,097,111 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $156.06 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG 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. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

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.