Sterneck Capital Management LLC Has $3.55 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sterneck Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 324 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.9% of Sterneck Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Sterneck Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tempus Wealth Planning LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

GOOG opened at $170.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.27.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost 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 (DPR) is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOG. UBS Group dropped their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 164,533 shares of company stock valued at $26,772,774. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by 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.