Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 764,681 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,330 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.8% of Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $145,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Lagoda Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Lagoda Investment Management L.P. now owns 54,784 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,433,000 after purchasing an additional 3,474 shares during the period. Laurion Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $762,000. Lionshead Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $487,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its holdings in Alphabet by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 348,050 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $66,283,000 after acquiring an additional 63,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $2,980,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $160.89. 24,836,886 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,585,327. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $160.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.86.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.