Carderock Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Carderock Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 63,756 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,517 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 3.0% of Carderock Capital Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Carderock Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,268,933,000 after buying an additional 1,237,385 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,175,106,000 after buying an additional 523,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded up $2.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $198.05. 29,346,687 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,514,902. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company's fifty day moving average price is $184.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.33. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $202.29.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.15.

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.