Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.'s 3rd Largest Position

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 238,480 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,969 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 3.3% of Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $45,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Untitled Investments LP grew its stake in Alphabet by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Untitled Investments LP now owns 145,018 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $27,452,000 after purchasing an additional 7,800 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust now owns 7,014 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,328,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 6,279 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,189,000 after buying an additional 1,463 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 16,201,800 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,067,035,000 after buying an additional 238,728 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $2.50 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $161.30. The stock had a trading volume of 30,044,472 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,213,602. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company's 50-day moving average is $160.78 and its 200 day moving average is $175.37.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Bank of America increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% 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.