Crestline Management LP Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Crestline Management LP lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 87.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,448 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 9,652 shares during the period. Crestline Management LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $160.89. 24,836,886 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,585,323. The firm's fifty day moving average is $160.65 and its 200-day moving average is $176.97. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.99, 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 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 the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Alphabet Company 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.