Shell Asset Management Co. Has $30.25 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Shell Asset Management Co. decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 159,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,896 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.3% of Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $30,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings 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 valued at $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Bank of America raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. 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 report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. 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. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $163.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.