Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Sky Investment Group LLC

Sky Investment Group LLC lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,120 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.6% of Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,088,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC now owns 25,404 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,838,000 after buying an additional 7,285 shares during the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 14,466 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,755,000 after buying an additional 883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Alphabet by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 238,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,468,000 after purchasing an additional 11,714 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $200.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $203.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.53, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.89.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.