Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 368,799 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,524,401 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 368,799 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.4% of Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $480,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

Alphabet stock opened at $175.75 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $134.80 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $189.85 and a 200 day moving average of $178.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given 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 target price of $209.13.

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.