Logan Capital Management Inc. Sells 15,557 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Logan Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 153,104 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 15,557 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.2% of Logan Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Logan Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $29,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lagoda Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Lagoda Investment Management L.P. now owns 54,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,433,000 after purchasing an additional 3,474 shares during the period. Laurion Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $762,000. Lionshead Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $487,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its stake in Alphabet by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 348,050 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $66,283,000 after acquiring an additional 63,720 shares during the period. Finally, Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $2,980,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

GOOG opened at $154.38 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.02. 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 Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

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.