Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Sather Financial Group Inc

Sather Financial Group Inc lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 14.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,300 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,714 shares during the quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,032,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Warther Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 114,986 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $21,767,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,186 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,039,000 after buying an additional 2,183 shares in the last quarter. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,379,000. Portfolio Design Labs LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 99.9% during the 4th quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 3,391 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 1,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortress Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $453,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $217.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $210.62.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.7 %

Alphabet stock traded down $4.90 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $179.66. The company had a trading volume of 35,094,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,166,218. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $192.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.