Fundsmith LLP cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,848,278 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,809 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 5.5% of Fundsmith LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Fundsmith LLP owned approximately 0.06% of Alphabet worth $1,296,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.8% in 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 bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake 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 valued at $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position 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 worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's 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 owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Alphabet Trading Down 1.0 %
GOOGL stock traded down $1.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $152.75. 32,365,483 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,778,717. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $158.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.18. The company has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.55%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.
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Alphabet Profile
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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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