J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 21.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 726,442 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 202,536 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $137,575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,503,291,000 after buying an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 20,990.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,171,151,000 after acquiring an additional 6,157,413 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $147.67 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.34, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $164.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.78.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.