Harvard Management Co. Inc. Sells 508,200 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Harvard Management Co. Inc. trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 42.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 686,812 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 508,200 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 7.7% of Harvard Management Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Harvard Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $130,014,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after buying an additional 337,031 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 4,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 1,294 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 37,379 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,199,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 137,669 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,703,000 after buying an additional 22,169 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $160.61 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $161.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.60. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.95, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 announced its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Westpark Capital upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. KeyCorp increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned 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 target price of $198.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.