Two Sigma Advisers LP Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Two Sigma Advisers LP cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,946,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 231,200 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.7% of Two Sigma Advisers LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Two Sigma Advisers LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $747,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in 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 period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth 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 period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

Alphabet stock opened at $166.19 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.04. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’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 value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.