Sit Investment Associates Inc. Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 94,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,900 shares during the quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,039,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.65.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.2 %

GOOG opened at $147.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $177.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $178.30. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $147.54 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.