Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $4.28 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,485 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,660 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.0% of Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,247,208,000 after acquiring an additional 259,213 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $170.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $192.59 and its 200-day moving average is $177.59.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % 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 the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 134,188 shares of company stock worth $25,036,883. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

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.