Windacre Partnership LLC Sells 1,092,600 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Windacre Partnership LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,134,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,092,600 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 14.3% of Windacre Partnership LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Windacre Partnership LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $971,923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $166.19 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $158.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

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.