Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 936,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 30,113 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.9% of Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $178,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,374,992 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $452,294,000 after purchasing an additional 137,955 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 68,278 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,003,000 after purchasing an additional 4,091 shares during the last quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $875,000. Generation Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $4,930,000. Finally, Holcombe Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $282,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $153.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.88.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.