BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 962,536 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 119,028 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $183,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 140.6% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $927,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of GOOG opened at $165.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $160.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.66. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366. Corporate insiders own 12.99% 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.