Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 49.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 590,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 583,338 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.7% of Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $111,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares during the period. Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Permanent Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $273,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Tigress Financial increased 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. Truist Financial cut their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm’s 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $159.53 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $158.38 and a 200-day moving average of $175.12. 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 twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. 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%.

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.