Toronto Dominion Bank Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 27.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,901,887 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 632,099 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Toronto Dominion Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Toronto Dominion Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $552,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock traded up $0.44 during trading on Monday, hitting $167.87. The stock had a trading volume of 20,867,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,739,926. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company's 50-day moving average price is $160.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet 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.