Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Sterling Investment Management LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Sterling Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 255 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.8% of Sterling Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. MBB Public Markets I LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3,586.8% during the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 361,788 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $66,359,000 after acquiring an additional 351,975 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 6.0% during the second quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Marathon Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 11,320 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,076,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 18,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,477,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 624,862 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $114,612,000 after buying an additional 8,807 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,084,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $201.90 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $203.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released 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 net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.