JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,349,673 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 216,960 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.5% of JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $251,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. now owns 12,203 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $29,458,000. Kensico Capital Management Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Kensico Capital Management Corp now owns 923,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $174,837,000 after acquiring an additional 33,600 shares in the last quarter. KKM Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. KKM Financial LLC now owns 16,692 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,160,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 11,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $152.75 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $158.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.18. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.55%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

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.