Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. Sells 130,743 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 35.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 237,837 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 130,743 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.4% of Jasper Ridge Partners L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Jasper Ridge Partners L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $45,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on GOOG. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9 %

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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Alphabet 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.