Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,467,629 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 40,619 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.8% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $226,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Alphabet by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 216,306 shares of company stock valued at $35,782,927. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $170.68 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $165.45 and a 200-day moving average of $174.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.17.

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.