Cooke & Bieler LP Sells 266,222 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cooke & Bieler LP trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 94.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,945 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 266,222 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,591,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% in 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 during the period. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in 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 during the period. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $377,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,908,000 after acquiring an additional 104,366 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush boosted their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $171.95 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $103.54 and a fifty-two week high of $174.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%.

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.