Cibc World Markets Corp Acquires 878,698 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 42.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,967,895 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 878,698 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.3% of Cibc World Markets Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $561,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 20,990.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,171,151,000 after purchasing an additional 6,157,413 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in Alphabet by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,792,317,000 after buying an additional 4,694,621 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $513,024,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.9 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $154.33 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.22 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The business has a fifty day moving average of $179.66 and a 200-day moving average of $176.72. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.