Wormser Freres Gestion Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wormser Freres Gestion lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,348 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 622 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 4.2% of Wormser Freres Gestion’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Wormser Freres Gestion’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $168.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.93, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $158.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.88. 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 Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.