Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Bell Asset Management Ltd's Largest Position

Bell Asset Management Ltd cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 210,282 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,075 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 7.2% of Bell Asset Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Bell Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,806,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 115,663 shares of company stock valued at $20,286,447. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Westpark Capital raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $202.46.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $4.39 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $151.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,656,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,184,389. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $167.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.14. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.