Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Sells 4,951 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,951 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.0% of Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after acquiring an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 4,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 37,379 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,199,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Alphabet by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 137,669 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,703,000 after buying an additional 22,169 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $151.08 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $165.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.74.

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.