Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Has $8.50 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 577 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.1% of Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 360.1% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,083,000 after purchasing an additional 15,848 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,980,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 27.1% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,645 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after buying an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 8.7% during the first quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 12,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,870,000 after buying an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 75.5% during the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 56,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,596,000 after acquiring an additional 24,290 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $166.57 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.40 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.86. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

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.