Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Sells 21,246 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 520,521 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 21,246 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.3% of Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $98,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in 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 period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $166.19 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. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $158.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet 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.