Gotham Asset Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Gotham Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 394,504 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 21,999 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.7% of Gotham Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $74,680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Alphabet by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.2% during 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 buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0 %

Alphabet stock opened at $152.75 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Company 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.