North Star Investment Management Corp. Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

North Star Investment Management Corp. decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,762 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 276 shares during the quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,143,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet by 360.1% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,083,000 after buying an additional 15,848 shares during the last quarter. Hosking Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the first quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 729,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $111,084,000 after acquiring an additional 4,442 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.0% during the first quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 37,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,639,000 after purchasing an additional 7,876 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.9% in the first quarter. GSB Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,891 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,724,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4 %

GOOG opened at $171.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $163.97 and its 200 day moving average is $170.83. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.40 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 209,552 shares of company stock worth $34,433,848 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.