Northcape Capital Pty Ltd Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Northcape Capital Pty Ltd lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,295 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,462 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.8% of Northcape Capital Pty Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Northcape Capital Pty Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $218,000. Vance Wealth Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Tobam boosted its stake in Alphabet by 64.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tobam now owns 24,833 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,523,000 after purchasing an additional 9,718 shares during the period. Finally, Arjuna Capital increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 101,868 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,555,000 after purchasing an additional 874 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.82.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $195.49 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $181.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.