Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 617,115 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 159,770 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $115,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 518.8% during 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 buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 104,812 shares of company stock valued at $19,336,979. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.9 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $154.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.22 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $179.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

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.