Two Seas Capital LP Sells 15,000 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Two Seas Capital LP trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 37.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 15,000 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.4% of Two Seas Capital LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Two Seas Capital LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,455,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Finally, Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 32,164 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,089,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $163.98 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $158.23 and its 200 day moving average is $174.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a PEG 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 company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.