Carnegie Investment Counsel Sells 3,684 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Carnegie Investment Counsel lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 230,704 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,684 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.3% of Carnegie Investment Counsel's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Alphabet were worth $43,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after buying an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Alphabet by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Alphabet by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,375,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,632,691 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in Alphabet by 182.1% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $422,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,701 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

Alphabet stock traded up $3.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $197.55. The stock had a trading volume of 21,974,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,381,408. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $185.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % 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 1,367 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

About Alphabet

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.