Artemis Investment Management LLP Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Artemis Investment Management LLP decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 35.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 369,565 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 201,760 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $51,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 487,435,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $63,785,809,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,104 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 218,540,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,159,242,000 after buying an additional 1,666,205 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111,197.8% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 170,420,243 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,036,178,000 after buying an additional 170,267,122 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 121,308,289 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,481,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,731,671 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm reduced their target price on Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Redburn Atlantic upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on Alphabet from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $153.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.48.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.49, for a total transaction of $28,698.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,436.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.49, for a total value of $28,698.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $973,436.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,378 shares of company stock worth $35,461,377 in the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $150.87 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $143.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.74 and a fifty-two week high of $153.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.01, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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.