Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 20.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,287,451 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 9,810,827 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.0% of Legal & General Group Plc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.32% of Alphabet worth $7,437,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during 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 buying an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Alphabet by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $2.76 on Tuesday, reaching $156.31. 27,453,571 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,219,399. The firm's 50 day moving average is $167.87 and its 200-day moving average is $176.28. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Westpark Capital upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Ten equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.72.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,497 shares of company stock valued at $20,837,150 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

About Alphabet

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.