Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 21.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 957,789 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 261,137 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in Alphabet were worth $181,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% during the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $2.73 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $164.03. 25,689,744 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,219,299. 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 $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.34. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.46.

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.