Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Mediolanum International Funds Ltd

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 900,392 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 150,517 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.2% of Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $171,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Denver PWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% during the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $185.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $191.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.64.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.