Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 547,493 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 587 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.4% of Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $99,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064,073 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after purchasing an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,178,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,310,925,000 after buying an additional 1,429,261 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,344,778,000 after buying an additional 597,756 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 180,867 shares of company stock valued at $29,878,106. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $222.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 16th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $181.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.35.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $162.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $163.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $166.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.