Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by AGF Management Ltd.

AGF Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 19.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 834,162 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 134,236 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $157,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after acquiring an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 50,615,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,581,427,000 after buying an additional 757,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,451,718 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,278,910,000 after buying an additional 1,218,639 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $163.99 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $147.22 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.65.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.59.

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.