BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 134,083 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 843,508 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 134,083 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.8% of BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $141,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. L.M. Kohn & Company grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 7,444 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,244,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Circle Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,972 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,036,000 after buying an additional 5,989 shares during the period. Channing Global Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 38,450 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,428,000 after buying an additional 2,915 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 674,113 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $112,705,000 after acquiring an additional 7,839 shares during the period. Finally, Kingfisher Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the third quarter. Kingfisher Capital LLC now owns 11,898 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,989,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. This trade represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $170.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $169.98 and a 200 day moving average of $171.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.