Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 11.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,710 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,697 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.8% of Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $2.50 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $177.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 31,251,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,341,583. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $170.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.29. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $207.63.

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.