Regal Partners Ltd Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Regal Partners Ltd trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 86.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 61,980 shares during the period. Regal Partners Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Evergreen Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $286,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,522.4% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 70,410 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,409,000 after buying an additional 66,070 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,919,438 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $555,978,000 after acquiring an additional 140,711 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,167 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $162.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $163.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.