Shikiar Asset Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Shikiar Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 90,557 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 16,844 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 4.0% of Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $37,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Pivotal Research started coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 216,092 shares of company stock valued at $35,644,136. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $164.52 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.25. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.46 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

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.