Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $1.81 Billion Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 9.1%, owning over 11.7 million shares, making Alphabet its 8th largest holding valued at approximately $1.81 billion.
• Insider activity included the sale of 23,820 shares by John Kent Walker, which resulted in a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of Alphabet stock.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a current dividend yield of 0.4%.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,713,818 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 978,593 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.8% of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.10% of Alphabet worth $1,811,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,962,389,000 after buying an additional 104,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $4,317,606,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.79.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $47,225,230. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded down $2.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $210.63. 27,337,684 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,138,063. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $214.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.