Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Sepio Capital LP

Sepio Capital LP lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,892 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.0% of Sepio Capital LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,644,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,870,181,000 after buying an additional 875,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after acquiring an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,483,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,516,000 after acquiring an additional 144,170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.65.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.2 %

Alphabet stock opened at $147.74 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.54 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.43.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.