Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Manchester Global Management UK Ltd

Manchester Global Management UK Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 69,968 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,472 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.7% of Manchester Global Management UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Manchester Global Management UK Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $273,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $151.47 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $163.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.61. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.74.

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.