Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s 4th Largest Position

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 338,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 11,793 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 4.3% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $64,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. M&G PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,738 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 172.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,254,000 after purchasing an additional 57,810 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded down $1.89 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $193.50. 6,977,692 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,637,823. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $183.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.52. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $202.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

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.