Hartford Investment Management Co. Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Hartford Investment Management Co. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 360,417 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 8,230 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.2% of Hartford Investment Management Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Hartford Investment Management Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,910,838,000 after acquiring an additional 743,369 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after purchasing an additional 523,416 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $210.62.

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View Our Latest Report on GOOGL

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $179.66 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $192.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

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Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.

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