Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 384,560 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 33,433 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $73,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,247,208,000 after acquiring an additional 259,213 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,870,181,000 after purchasing an additional 875,480 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,483,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,516,000 after buying an additional 144,170 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,093,773 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $156.23 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.56.

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.