Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Holdings Cut by Jasper Ridge Partners L.P.

Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 35.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 237,837 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 130,743 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.4% of Jasper Ridge Partners L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Jasper Ridge Partners L.P.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $45,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in 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 buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value 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 trade represents a 9.64% 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 worth $30,153,353 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.68 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $161.26. 5,916,681 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,517,024. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $160.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.97. 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:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS 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 issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.