Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Benson Investment Management Company Inc.

Benson Investment Management Company Inc. lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,340 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 4.6% of Benson Investment Management Company Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Benson Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,110,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. The trade was a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 153,053 shares of company stock valued at $27,559,701 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup increased 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. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $192.29 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50 day moving average is $184.55 and its 200-day moving average is $174.49. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.