Wick Capital Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wick Capital Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 71.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 714 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,822 shares during the quarter. Wick Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,864,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.46.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.73 on Friday, hitting $164.03. 25,689,744 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,219,284. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $160.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio 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.