Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. Has $4.56 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 29,165 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 950 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.2% of Citadel Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390 shares during the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,088,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $204,262,000. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 246.2% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,085,000 after buying an additional 4,052 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $175.88 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $164.57 and a 200 day moving average of $176.38. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several research reports. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.