Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Reduced by Patient Capital Management LLC

Patient Capital Management LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 595,490 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 246 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 5.2% of Patient Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Patient Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $112,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. 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 period. 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 period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. 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 on 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 directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. DZ Bank cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $159.53 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $158.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect 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 represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.