Port Capital LLC Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Port Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,999 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 576 shares during the period. Port Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised 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 purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $165.37 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $158.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.