Cresset Asset Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cresset Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 28.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 871,183 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 342,901 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.8% of Cresset Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Cresset Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $165,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock traded down $1.37 on Friday, hitting $154.38. 22,820,181 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,511,566. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The firm's 50 day moving average is $160.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

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.