Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is First Pacific Advisors LP’s 2nd Largest Position

First Pacific Advisors LP lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,689,681 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 128,688 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 7.3% of First Pacific Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. First Pacific Advisors LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $509,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its position in Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $163.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $182.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.51. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.22 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. 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 payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company 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.