Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Position Lowered by Shell Asset Management Co.

Shell Asset Management Co. cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 233,708 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,593 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.9% of Shell Asset Management Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,606 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,353,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390 shares in the last quarter. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC now owns 14,762 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,811,000 after purchasing an additional 5,055 shares in the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 13,109 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,532,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Biltmore Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Biltmore Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $780,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $165.40 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 50 day simple moving average of $160.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% 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, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet 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.