Compass Ion Advisors LLC Sells 1,819 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Compass Ion Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 21,252 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,819 shares during the quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 1,169,976 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $222,810,000 after buying an additional 19,360 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $79,306,000. Evoke Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 29,361 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,592,000 after buying an additional 2,090 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 10,071 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,918,000 after buying an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,559 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,725,000 after buying an additional 6,033 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $162.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.21, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.01 and a 12 month 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.