AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 819,954 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

AQR Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 23.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,715,867 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 819,954 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.7% of AQR Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. AQR Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $514,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth 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 stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL traded down $1.36 on Wednesday, reaching $158.80. The company had a trading volume of 34,484,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,226,752. 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. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.37.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $76.49 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%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.