Peregrine Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 170,192 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,178 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.0% of Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,411,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 211,036 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,190,000 after buying an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. GAM Holding AG grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,050.7% during the 4th quarter. GAM Holding AG now owns 20,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,883,000 after acquiring an additional 18,619 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,808 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares in the last quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,686 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,083,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 288,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $181.58 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $194.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.22. The company has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.