Carnegie Investment Counsel Has $43.94 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Carnegie Investment Counsel reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 230,704 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,684 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.3% of Carnegie Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $43,935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Sunburst Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 8,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Phillips Financial Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

GOOG stock opened at $197.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $185.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.84. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $202.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.