Farallon Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Farallon Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,080,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 330,000 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.0% of Farallon Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Farallon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $396,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $155.75 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $161.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.