Brandes Investment Partners LP Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Brandes Investment Partners LP reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 380,268 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 37,406 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $71,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth 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 period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $7.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $154.33. The company had a trading volume of 48,610,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,276,841. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

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Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. 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. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, 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. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $210.59.

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.