Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108,496 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 8,165 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.7% of Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Alley Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 105,629 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $14,755,000 after acquiring an additional 6,415 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 1,585,865 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $221,529,000 after acquiring an additional 646,710 shares during the last quarter. NWK Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. NWK Group Inc. now owns 47,666 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,658,000 after buying an additional 779 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 14,144,402 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,975,832,000 after buying an additional 41,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,572 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,969,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $191.57.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on GOOGL
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $172.50. 37,638,876 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,349,364. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.02. The company's 50 day moving average is $163.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $148.38. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.35 and a 1 year high of $178.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 205,835 shares of company stock worth $31,165,165 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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