Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. Sells 98,417 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 33.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 195,154 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 98,417 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.3% of Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $37,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Harrell Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $154.38 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.85. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

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.