Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $72.10 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 380,897 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,352 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.3% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $72,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $771,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,192,000 after buying an additional 5,516 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,037,196,000 after buying an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,567,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

GOOGL stock traded up $3.09 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $196.00. 27,621,897 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,105,888. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The business has a 50 day moving average of $184.43 and a 200-day moving average of $173.25. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.15.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.