Scotia Capital Inc. Sells 65,590 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Scotia Capital Inc. reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,001,485 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 65,590 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.7% of Scotia Capital Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $309,510,000 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 the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.5%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $201.42 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $180.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Westpark Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Loop Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.53.

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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