E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 184,820 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,760 shares during the quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB's holdings in Alphabet were worth $28,874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Safeguard Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.0% during the first quarter. Safeguard Financial LLC now owns 5,076 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $793,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.9% during the first quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 2,160 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.2% during the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,458 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,258,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 73.0% in the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 34,978 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,465,000 after acquiring an additional 14,757 shares during the period. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 16.5% in the first quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,452 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $5.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $174.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 22,239,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,366,494. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $161.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.05. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business 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%. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.

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.