Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 930,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 19,449 shares during the quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $177,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $1,445,000. Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $505,000. Circle Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the third quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,972 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,036,000 after purchasing an additional 5,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 7,444 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.9 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $156.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $148.20 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.51.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.56.

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.