Ellis Investment Partners LLC Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ellis Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,334 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,084 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.2% of Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after acquiring an additional 9,703,425 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 80,246,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,309,370,000 after acquiring an additional 862,550 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $4,101,040,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,800,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,058,842,000 after purchasing an additional 481,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 28,558,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,024,679,000 after purchasing an additional 813,428 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $187.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.83 and a fifty-two week high of $187.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $154.76.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares in the company, valued at $362,012,608.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares in the company, valued at $362,012,608.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 146,284 shares of company stock worth $24,534,393 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.67.

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.