By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,933,925 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 505,031 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.5% of Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,123,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% during the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Westpark Capital raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Alphabet
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 87,297 shares of company stock worth $15,936,270. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $150.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $176.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.77. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $147.22 and a one year 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.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.
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.
Further Reading
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