Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 127 shares during the quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,390 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,088,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $204,262,000. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 246.2% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 4,052 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $174.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $161.88 and a 200 day moving average of $176.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.