Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Lowered by Davis Selected Advisers

Davis Selected Advisers reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,015,704 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 46,903 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 3.3% of Davis Selected Advisers’ holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Davis Selected Advisers’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $570,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $162.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $183.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.37. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.90 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.