The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases 238,728 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,201,800 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 238,728 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.7% of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.13% of Alphabet worth $3,067,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its stake in Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of GOOGL traded down $1.36 on Wednesday, reaching $158.80. 34,484,953 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,226,752. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $161.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.46.

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.