Kennedy Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,929 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,120 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.5% of Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,503,291,000 after buying an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 20,990.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,171,151,000 after buying an additional 6,157,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Alphabet by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,792,317,000 after acquiring an additional 4,694,621 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, 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 value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 115,663 shares of company stock worth $20,286,447. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. UBS Group set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.72.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $156.31 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $167.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.14. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.