Nexus Investment Management ULC Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Nexus Investment Management ULC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,850 shares during the period. Nexus Investment Management ULC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Alphabet by 116.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,662,809 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $198.05 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.66 and a 1-year high of $202.29. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.15.

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.