Maple Capital Management Inc. Has $76.34 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Maple Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 400,873 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,531 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 5.6% of Maple Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $76,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 287.9% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $168.66 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $191.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.88. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned 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 price target of $209.13.

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.