Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 650 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.1% of Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,852,868,000 after purchasing an additional 4,348,188 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after acquiring an additional 9,703,425 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,269,184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,550,942,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,060 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,744,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,658,122,000 after acquiring an additional 92,741 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 19,822,203 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,613,557,000 after acquiring an additional 390,118 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $164.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.50 and a 12 month high of $176.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $165.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 253,289 shares of company stock valued at $36,724,534 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.