IMC Chicago LLC Sells 3,964,567 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

IMC Chicago LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 94.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 234,423 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,964,567 shares during the period. IMC Chicago LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,624,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after acquiring an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock traded down $1.82 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $176.97. 17,305,386 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,451,939. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock's 50 day moving average is $163.42 and its 200 day moving average is $176.21. The company has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for 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%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $436,570,192.16. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.