Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Virtue Capital Management LLC

Virtue Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 55.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,689 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,644 shares during the period. Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank cut their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $169.59 on Tuesday. 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 market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.