Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Clare Market Investments LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Clare Market Investments LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,210 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,767 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 4.2% of Clare Market Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Clare Market Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA raised 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Tempus Wealth Planning LLC raised 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.0%

GOOG stock opened at $169.39 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $161.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.14. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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.