Whitener Capital Management Inc. Sells 100 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Whitener Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Sunburst Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.1% in the third quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 8,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,585,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Phillips Financial Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. 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.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $197.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $185.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.93. 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 stock 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 one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.