Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Boosted by QV Investors Inc.

QV Investors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 85,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,160 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.7% of QV Investors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. QV Investors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after acquiring an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position 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 period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after purchasing an additional 523,416 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded down $1.80 on Monday, hitting $190.24. 11,292,433 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,501,383. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $182.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % 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 John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 154,387 shares of company stock worth $27,748,931 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.