Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 495,518,986 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,063,723 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.6% of Vanguard Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 4.05% of Alphabet worth $93,801,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares during the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.1% in the third quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 7,302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,211,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.1% during the third quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 18,261 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,029,000 after buying an additional 2,670 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 23.8% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 163,970 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,194,000 after acquiring an additional 31,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 96,294 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,970,000 after acquiring an additional 2,358 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 87,297 shares of company stock valued at $15,936,270 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Wedbush increased their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.49.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $157.04 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.22 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $177.19 and a 200 day moving average of $176.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.51, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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 was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Alphabet Company 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.