Cat Rock Capital Management LP Sells 31,500 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cat Rock Capital Management LP cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 246,606 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 31,500 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 6.1% of Cat Rock Capital Management LP's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Cat Rock Capital Management LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $46,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value 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. Insiders have sold 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 7.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $12.38 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $152.82. 78,690,385 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,372,544. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $161.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.17. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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.