Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Holdings Increased by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 644,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,092 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.2% of iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $122,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4,715.5% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 8,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,353,000 after buying an additional 7,922 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.7% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,170,000 after buying an additional 1,344 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.7% in the third quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 4,531 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $758,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $4,519,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $166.28 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.02. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.67 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.