Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,632,691 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.4% of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,375,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,109,000 after acquiring an additional 3,924 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,283 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $937,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $620,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 3,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $163.24 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $166.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.58. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.