Janus Henderson Group PLC Sells 260,585 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Janus Henderson Group PLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,352,072 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 260,585 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $634,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. now owns 12,203 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,310,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,458,000. Kensico Capital Management Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Kensico Capital Management Corp now owns 923,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $174,837,000 after purchasing an additional 33,600 shares in the last quarter. KKM Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. KKM Financial LLC now owns 16,692 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,160,000 after buying an additional 825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 11,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after buying an additional 1,072 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0 %

GOOGL stock opened at $152.75 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.