Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Has $1.03 Billion Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,443,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 79,700 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.8% of Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.'s investment 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.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank grew its stake in Alphabet by 38.0% during the third quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 4,700 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 1,294 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 37,379 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,199,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in Alphabet by 19.2% in the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 137,669 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,703,000 after acquiring an additional 22,169 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Westpark Capital upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Mizuho cut their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.03.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $2.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $161.96. The stock had a trading volume of 55,957,898 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,435,946. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. 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's 50-day moving average price is $162.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.43.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, 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 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 0.52%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.