Fundsmith LLP Has $1.30 Billion Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Fundsmith LLP lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,848,278 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,809 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 5.5% of Fundsmith LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Fundsmith LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,296,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew 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 worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $154.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.