Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Sells 60,277 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,625,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 60,277 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.8% of Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $500,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 140.6% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 8,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $927,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value 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. The trade was a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $154.38 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.93. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.