Pinebridge Investments L.P. Sells 59,344 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pinebridge Investments L.P. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 850,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 59,344 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.2% of Pinebridge Investments L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Pinebridge Investments L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $161,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,455,571,000 after acquiring an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 33,504,543 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,380,605,000 after acquiring an additional 4,247,379 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $153.90 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $165.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.32. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.38.

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.