Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 34.2%, now holding 25,903 shares worth approximately $4.38 million, making it the firm's 5th largest position.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased or initiated positions in Alphabet, with Guardian Wealth Management raising its stake by 242.9% during the first quarter.
• Alphabet has recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21, with an announced dividend yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 34.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,903 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 13,453 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.4% of Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.1%

GOOGL traded up $5.91 during trading on Monday, reaching $195.04. The stock had a trading volume of 31,493,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,132,445. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock's 50 day moving average is $178.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.82.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 249,399 shares of company stock valued at $43,525,794. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.39.

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.