Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s 4th Largest Position

Shikiar Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 83,420 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,032 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 3.9% of Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $677,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 6,445 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 15,977 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,043,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $177.94 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.43. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.