Sterneck Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sterneck Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,041 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 163 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.4% of Sterneck Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Sterneck Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. increased its stake 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 worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $196.71 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $202.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $182.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend 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.