Sarasin & Partners LLP Has $418.40 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sarasin & Partners LLP reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,522,743 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 167,609 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 4.1% of Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $418,397,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC lifted 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 valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 163,270 shares of company stock worth $26,553,563. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $1.87 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $168.05. The stock had a trading volume of 26,748,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,041,962. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company's fifty day moving average is $159.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.47. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.