Birch Capital Management LLC Has $4.83 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Birch Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,897 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 142 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.5% of Birch Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Birch Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,827,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $436,570,192.16. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $176.97 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.27. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.