Farther Finance Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 70,339 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 421 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 60,745 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,568,000 after buying an additional 9,916 shares during the last quarter. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.9% in the 4th quarter. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. now owns 102,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,525,000 after buying an additional 44,247 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 56,581 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,775,000 after buying an additional 1,592 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 540,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $102,855,000 after buying an additional 14,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $273,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $165.98 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $138.21 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” 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 assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 97,182 shares of company stock valued at $18,192,354. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.