Morningstar Investment Management LLC Has $55.32 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 292,207 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 40,038 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 4.4% of Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $55,315,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $170.92 on Wednesday. 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 capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $189.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently 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.