AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 819,954 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,715,867 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 819,954 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.7% of AQR Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $514,114,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.89.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $160.61 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $161.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.60. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.