Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Sustainable Growth Advisers LP

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,818 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 737 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

GOOGL opened at $170.56 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.22 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $181.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 11.55% of the stock is owned by 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.