Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,443,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 79,700 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.8% of Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,030,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% in 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 period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th 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, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.03.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

Alphabet stock traded up $2.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $161.96. The company had a trading volume of 55,957,898 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,435,966. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $162.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.