AQR Capital Management LLC Has $514.11 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

AQR Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,715,867 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 819,954 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.7% of AQR Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $514,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,503,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’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 value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $160.61 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.95, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $161.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.60.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.89.

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.