Wormser Freres Gestion Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wormser Freres Gestion lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,348 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 622 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 4.2% of Wormser Freres Gestion’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Wormser Freres Gestion’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in 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 valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. Truist Financial lowered their price objective 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. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $168.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.88. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Alphabet 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.