Birch Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Birch Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,039 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 93 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.0% of Birch Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Birch Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,683,000. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,606 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,353,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 116,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,178,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959 shares during the last quarter. ShankerValleau Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $274,000. Finally, Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 80.0% in the 4th quarter. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida now owns 10,579 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,015,000 after purchasing an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $0.35 on Tuesday, hitting $197.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,955,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,869,658. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $202.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $182.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.