Scotia Capital Inc. Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Scotia Capital Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 3.2%, selling 65,590 shares, leaving them with 2,001,485 shares valued at approximately $309.5 million.
• Alphabet's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting an EPS of $2.31, exceeding the consensus estimate of $2.15.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an ex-dividend date of September 8th, representing an annualized dividend of $0.84 and a yield of 0.4%.

Scotia Capital Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,001,485 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 65,590 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.7% of Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $309,510,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Nia Impact Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,249,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Enzi Wealth boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the first quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $817,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the first quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,020 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $1.03 on Wednesday, hitting $202.31. The stock had a trading volume of 9,922,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,638,750. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $182.27 and a 200-day moving average of $173.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Alphabet Company 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.