Prudential PLC Sells 53,398 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Prudential PLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 266,369 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 53,398 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.3% of Prudential PLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Prudential PLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $50,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,910,838,000 after acquiring an additional 743,369 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. DZ Bank lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Westpark Capital upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Ten research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.49.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,497 shares of company stock valued at $20,837,150 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $1.57 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $157.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,935,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,145,536. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $167.87 and a 200-day moving average of $176.28. The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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