Longview Partners Guernsey LTD Sells 149,036 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Longview Partners Guernsey LTD lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,435,134 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 149,036 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 4.9% of Longview Partners Guernsey LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $650,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Demars Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,830.0% in the fourth quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 533,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $101,053,000 after acquiring an additional 531,006 shares in the last quarter. Coleford Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,036,000. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 2,051 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. MSH Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $2,301,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 1,221,901 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $231,306,000 after purchasing an additional 39,650 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.74.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $151.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $165.14 and its 200-day moving average is $175.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.