Legal & General Group Plc Has $6.28 Billion Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 19.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,961,336 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,135,012 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.7% of Legal & General Group Plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.27% of Alphabet worth $6,277,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,551,533,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5,712.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,367,831 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $831,810,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.65.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.2 %

Alphabet stock opened at $147.74 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $177.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.55. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $143.70 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.