Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 36.2%, owning 6,131 shares after selling 3,481 shares in the first quarter.
• Alphabet recently reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, surpassing analyst expectations of $2.12, along with a revenue increase of 13.8% year-over-year.
• The company will pay a $0.21 quarterly dividend on September 15th, which translates to an annual yield of 0.4% with a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 36.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,131 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,481 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.6% of Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $958,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $96,465,000 after acquiring an additional 20,855 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. LFL Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. LFL Advisers LLC now owns 123,030 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $23,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trustmark National Bank Trust Department boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 33,885 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,453,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

GOOG stock opened at $201.63 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.47, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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