Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stake Trimmed by Orion Capital Management LLC

Orion Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,023 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 525 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.1% of Orion Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Orion Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Adalta Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Adalta Capital Management LLC now owns 7,885 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,502,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 14,283 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,720,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. 10Elms LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $305,000. Finally, Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC now owns 6,924 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $165.32 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $160.18 and its 200-day moving average is $176.66.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. 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.