Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Lessened by Liberty Capital Management Inc.

Liberty Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,553 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 73 shares during the period. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $176.97 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $163.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

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.