Boyar Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Boyar Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 26.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,340 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 850 shares during the quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $162.06 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.13, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $163.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. KeyCorp cut 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. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

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.