Stonekeep Investments LLC Sells 279 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Stonekeep Investments LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,816 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 279 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of Stonekeep Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Stonekeep Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. M&G PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,738 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 172.9% in the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,254,000 after acquiring an additional 57,810 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

GOOG opened at $197.55 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $202.88. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $185.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Citigroup raised their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.