Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd Sells 9,548 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,356 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 9,548 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.4% of Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,450,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth 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. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $4.43 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $172.90. 37,917,640 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 29,780,742. 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 50 day simple moving average of $158.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.76. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Bank of America upped their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

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.