Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 28.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,082,854 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 847,635 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.8% of Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec's holdings in Alphabet were worth $396,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after acquiring an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% during the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,718,000 after buying an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $3.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $165.81. 16,826,135 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,189,025. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $162.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.09. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for 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%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.