Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC

Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 66.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,177 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 20,562 shares during the period. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $945,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $4.39 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $173.98. The stock had a trading volume of 24,291,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,134,876. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $160.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.