Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,707,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 91,927 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.9% of ING Groep NV’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $238,496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4,894.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,606,670,000 after purchasing an additional 5,336,359 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $634,465,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $601,545,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $407,367,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,903,886.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 205,935 shares of company stock valued at $31,178,987 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8 %

Alphabet stock opened at $174.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.70. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.35 and a 12-month high of $178.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Argus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.57.

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.