Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $3.57 Billion Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 18,878,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 29,299 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 386.1% of Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,573,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Westpark Capital raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $145.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.38 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $175.15 and a 200-day moving average of $176.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors 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 yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.