ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Sells 80 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 129,211 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 80 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 3.4% of ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. lifted its position in Alphabet by 87.3% during the 3rd 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 institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.3 %

GOOG stock opened at $194.48 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $202.88. The company has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

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.