Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 77.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 528 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,788 shares during the period. Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Clare Market Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $20,182,000. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,581 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 4,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $823,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 263,158 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,116,000 after buying an additional 9,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Altiora Financial Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Altiora Financial Group LLC now owns 4,390 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $167.81 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $189.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.07 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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.