Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is JCIC Asset Management Inc.’s 2nd Largest Position

JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 110,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,055 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 8.5% of JCIC Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. JCIC Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Clean Yield Group grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 5,834 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,111,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 28,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,476 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 11,565 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,202,000 after buying an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cadent Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,185 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $797,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $192.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $202.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $184.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 153,053 shares of company stock valued at $27,559,701. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.