Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Buys 4,964 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 171,889 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,964 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.9% of Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in 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 worth $1,171,151,000 after buying an additional 6,157,413 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,792,317,000 after acquiring an additional 4,694,621 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $513,024,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the third 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. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.49.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,093,773. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2 %

GOOGL opened at $154.64 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.22 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.21, 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Alphabet Company 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.