Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 38.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 112,938 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 71,865 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.1% of Brevan Howard Capital Management LP's holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 7.5 %

Alphabet stock traded down $12.38 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $152.82. The stock had a trading volume of 78,690,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,372,544. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $161.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.17. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

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.