Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 88,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 432 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.8% of Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9%

Alphabet stock opened at $154.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $160.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

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.