Andra AP fonden Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Andra AP fonden reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 27.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 234,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 88,636 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.7% of Andra AP fonden’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Andra AP fonden’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. raised its stake in Alphabet by 953.0% during the fourth quarter. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. now owns 501,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $94,896,000 after purchasing an additional 453,694 shares during the period. Marco Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 87,179 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,503,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655 shares during the period. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,379 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. BBR Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. BBR Partners LLC now owns 98,797 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,702,000 after purchasing an additional 10,716 shares during the period. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 33,341 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $163.89 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.47. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.74 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.36, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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 owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.