Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Sells 4,507 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 275,708 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,507 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.7% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $52,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. QV Investors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 85,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,144,000 after purchasing an additional 15,160 shares during the period. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC now owns 47,968 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,080,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163 shares during the last quarter. Asset Allocation & Management Company LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Allocation & Management Company LLC now owns 9,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,842 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 9,935 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,881,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Finally, Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 45,080 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,534,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 154,387 shares of company stock worth $27,748,931. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock traded down $1.80 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $190.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,292,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,501,383. The stock has a market cap of $2.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42. The company’s 50 day moving average is $182.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.15.

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.