Darsana Capital Partners LP Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Darsana Capital Partners LP lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 25.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,500,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 500,000 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 8.6% of Darsana Capital Partners LP's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Darsana Capital Partners LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $283,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased 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 valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of GOOGL traded up $2.73 on Friday, reaching $164.03. The stock had a trading volume of 25,689,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,219,299. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.34. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. 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:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.