Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC Sells 274 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 51.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 254 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 274 shares during the period. Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $40,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,237,733,000 after buying an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,971,861,000 after buying an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $203.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The business’s 50-day moving average is $184.61 and its 200 day moving average is $174.82.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price target (up previously from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,494,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $489,572,657.16. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at $1,287,137.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547 over the last three months. Company 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.