Nexus Investment Management ULC Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Nexus Investment Management ULC decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 26.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,409 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,764 shares during the period. Nexus Investment Management ULC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064,073 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after acquiring an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,344,778,000 after acquiring an additional 597,756 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $196.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $162.85 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average of $174.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $163.55.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 156,565 shares of company stock worth $26,823,893 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.