TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Buys 43,680 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 603,573 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 43,680 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.9% of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $114,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Community Bank N.A. raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its holdings in Alphabet by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $273,000. Finally, Glass Wealth Management Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, 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 value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.03.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $161.96. The company had a trading volume of 55,915,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,549,314. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

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.