Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Xponance Inc.'s 6th Largest Position

Xponance Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,486,677 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 38,883 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.2% of Xponance Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Xponance Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $229,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in 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 buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $183.58 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $172.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $203.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Alphabet from $171.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.41.

About Alphabet

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.

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