CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Has $1.22 Billion Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,473,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,612 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.1% of CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,224,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 20,990.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,171,151,000 after buying an additional 6,157,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,792,317,000 after buying an additional 4,694,621 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $151.08 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $165.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, 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 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.74.

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.