Clare Market Investments LLC Has $16.12 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Clare Market Investments LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 103,210 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,767 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 4.2% of Clare Market Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Clare Market Investments LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $281,000. Finally, jvl associates llc lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.5% in the first quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $5.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $174.92. 22,239,619 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,341,992. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $161.56 and a 200 day moving average of $176.09. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.