Artemis Investment Management LLP Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Artemis Investment Management LLP trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 11.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 328,948 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 40,617 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $49,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after buying an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $15,441,917,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after buying an additional 1,472,043 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,910,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,876,605,000 after buying an additional 874,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,408,933 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,247,868,000 after buying an additional 686,514 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $182.15 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $172.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.35 and a 1-year high of $186.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James increased their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.66.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,026 shares of company stock worth $24,026,243. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.