North Star Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,749 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

North Star Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,662 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,749 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Meritage Group LP raised its stake in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 165.8% during the 3rd quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 301.5% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 522 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock worth $36,711,144 over the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $166.15 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.71 and a 12 month high of $174.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $189.44.

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.