Sky Investment Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sky Investment Group LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,605 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 335 shares during the period. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $176.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.27. 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.