Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Hutner Capital Management Inc.’s 9th Largest Position

Hutner Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 29.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,252 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.3% of Hutner Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Hutner Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during 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. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.9% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after buying an additional 1,546 shares during the period. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $162.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $162.48 and a 200-day moving average of $177.09. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.