Cibc World Market Inc. Acquires 231,886 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,015,231 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 231,886 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.2% of Cibc World Market Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Cibc World Market Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $570,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Newport Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $1,111,000. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the second quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,765 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,961,000 after buying an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $52,394,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 414,107 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,515,000 after acquiring an additional 13,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 869,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $158,319,000 after acquiring an additional 23,472 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $185.34 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.64. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

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.