Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Whale Rock Capital Management LLC

Whale Rock Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 40.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,430,638 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 967,665 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.2% of Whale Rock Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $270,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Whelan Financial boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Whelan Financial now owns 3,939 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 24,576.3% during the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 350,897 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $66,425,000 after purchasing an additional 349,475 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 2,841,578 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $537,911,000 after purchasing an additional 152,420 shares during the last quarter. Victrix Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,335,000. Finally, Sone Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,280,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

GOOGL opened at $166.54 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.69, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $158.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.

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