Cullen Investment Group LTD. Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,040 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,659 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.3% of Cullen Investment Group LTD.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Cullen Investment Group LTD.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

GOOG traded down $2.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $170.87. 36,230,934 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,239,371. The company has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $160.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend 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.