Everstar Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Everstar Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 27.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 899 shares during the period. Everstar Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $505,000. Tradition Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 8.3% in the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.4% during the third quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 10,729 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,967,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Timber Creek Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the third quarter. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 68,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,401,000 after purchasing an additional 2,054 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $156.06 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $148.20 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $181.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,097,111 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.