Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 70.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,527,833 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,142,392 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.8% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $478,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 19.0% during the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $192.91 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $183.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.20. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.