Cigna Investments Inc. New Has $10.05 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Cigna Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 3.4% during the second quarter, now owning 57,030 shares valued at over $10 million.
• Significant insider transactions occurred, including Director Kavitark Ram Shriram selling 15,000 shares and John Kent Walker selling 23,820 shares, reflecting a decrease in their ownership.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet stock, with Citigroup increasing it to $280 and Barclays to $250, indicating a positive outlook for the company.

Cigna Investments Inc. New reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,030 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,987 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.7% of Cigna Investments Inc. New's holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Cigna Investments Inc. New's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citigroup upped their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $233.44.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3%

GOOGL opened at $246.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $215.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.14. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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