Cibc World Markets Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cibc World Markets Corp reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,087,444 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 34,414 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.2% of Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $207,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 287.9% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $167.62 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $187.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.13 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.