Sit Investment Associates Inc. Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 94,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,900 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % 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, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $147.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $177.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.30. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.54 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.65.

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.