Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,155,602 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 38,164 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.1% of Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $360,395,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after buying an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 6,610.0% during the second quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,769,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $301,312,000 after buying an additional 1,742,794 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Alphabet by 27.8% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,375,512,000 after buying an additional 1,632,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in Alphabet by 182.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $422,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,701 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $170.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.40 and a 1-year high of $193.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

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.