Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 21.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 726,442 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 202,536 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $137,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted 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 buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Ten equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $147.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $164.42 and its 200 day moving average is $175.78.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.