Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Reduced by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,549,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 223,402 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.0% of Korea Investment CORP’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $861,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 20,990.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,171,151,000 after purchasing an additional 6,157,413 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,792,317,000 after buying an additional 4,694,621 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $629,008,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. UBS Group set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, March 27th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $145.60 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. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.38 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 in the last three months. 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.