North Star Asset Management Inc. Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

North Star Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,880 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,771 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Invst LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Invst LLC now owns 25,987 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,919,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Cache Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,495,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $89,168,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $464,000. Finally, Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,346,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1%

GOOGL stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $173.15. 16,929,686 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,731,314. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $158.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.75. The company has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho lowered their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet 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.