Studio Investment Management LLC Has $70,000 Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Studio Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 27.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 367 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 140 shares during the period. Studio Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $70,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2%

GOOG opened at $167.43 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 50 day simple moving average of $160.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet 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.