Harmony Asset Management LLC Sells 480 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Harmony Asset Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 480 shares during the period. Harmony Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $677,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $170.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

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.