Intact Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 153,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 228,070 shares of company stock worth $37,745,632. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.83.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $166.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $165.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.