Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Hutner Capital Management Inc.

Hutner Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,112 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 8,252 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.3% of Hutner Capital Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Hutner Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $3.02 on Friday, hitting $165.81. The stock had a trading volume of 16,826,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,174,655. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $162.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.16. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a PEG 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.