Waddell & Associates LLC Sells 100 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Waddell & Associates LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 13,371 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Waddell & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after buying an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,870,181,000 after acquiring an additional 875,480 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,939,547 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,797,287,000 after purchasing an additional 944,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $146.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.21, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.10.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.65.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.