Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Sells 4,596 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 361,877 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,596 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.0% of Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $50,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,591,000 after buying an additional 4,664 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 9.6% in the third quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,908,000 after purchasing an additional 104,366 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.2 %

GOOGL opened at $171.95 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $147.85 and a 200 day moving average of $141.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.54 and a 12 month high of $174.71. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.