Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Holdings Lowered by Shikiar Asset Management Inc.

Shikiar Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 27.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 60,559 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 22,861 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.0% of Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the second quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP now owns 174,856 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,018,000 after acquiring an additional 2,396 shares in the last quarter. Antonelli Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the second quarter. Antonelli Financial Advisors LLC now owns 19,157 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,398,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 64,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,504,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the period. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.2% in the second quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,726 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, Stiles Financial Services Inc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the second quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 19,993 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,547,000 after buying an additional 940 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at $489,572,657.16. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 276,338 shares of company stock worth $59,062,683 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $244.64 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $256.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $227.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $190.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

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.