Two Sigma Investments LP Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Two Sigma Investments LP lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,365,398 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 168,508 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 0.6% of Two Sigma Investments LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Two Sigma Investments LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $258,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. DZ Bank cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $166.19 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $158.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for 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 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.