Collar Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 15,717 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Collar Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,717 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,993,000. Alphabet accounts for 2.5% of Collar Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 1,633 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 116,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,178,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,606 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,353,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,683,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $165.20 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.52, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $161.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank cut their price objective 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. 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 report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

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.

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