Cidel Asset Management Inc. Invests $4.46 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cidel Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 28,528 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,457,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rovin Capital UT ADV lifted its stake in Alphabet by 25.6% in the first quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 3,652 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $570,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $584,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 71.4% in the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 2,004 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd lifted its stake in Alphabet by 48.8% in the first quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 23,783 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,716,000 after acquiring an additional 7,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% in the first quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC now owns 7,526 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,176,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.38.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $180.22. 13,287,389 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,210,158. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $169.97 and a 200 day moving average of $175.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid 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 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.