Teza Capital Management LLC Sells 70,505 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Teza Capital Management LLC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 84.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 70,505 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,606 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,353,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390 shares during the last quarter. R.H. Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $4,452,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 23.4% during the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 2,908 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the period. Finally, Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 65,288 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,433,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $167.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. 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’s 50 day moving average is $160.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.