Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc Sells 1,487 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,487 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 5.0% of Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Full Sail Capital LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Full Sail Capital LLC now owns 11,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,195,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 128,317 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,290,000 after buying an additional 15,773 shares during the period. Elefante Mark B acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $5,491,000. Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 592,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $112,127,000 after acquiring an additional 76,452 shares during the period. Finally, Eschler Asset Management LLP lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Eschler Asset Management LLP now owns 19,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,646,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $152.75 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap 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. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $158.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

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.