Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Impax Asset Management Group plc

Impax Asset Management Group plc cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 777,581 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 16,475 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $108,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,591,000 after acquiring an additional 4,664 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.6% during the third quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the third quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after buying an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,908,000 after buying an additional 104,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NatWest Group plc lifted its position in Alphabet by 239.0% during the fourth quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 100,793 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,080,000 after buying an additional 71,057 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $174.00 to $172.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $153.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 228,839 shares of company stock valued at $32,835,757 in the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3 %

GOOGL opened at $154.40 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $102.63 and a 12 month high of $160.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $145.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.19.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Company 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.