Fisher Asset Management LLC Sells 80,406 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Fisher Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,508,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 80,406 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $477,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $33,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 287.9% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its position in Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $168.66 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $191.63 and a 200-day moving average of $177.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

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.