Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Cigna Investments Inc. New’s 8th Largest Position

Cigna Investments Inc. New reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 51,043 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 850 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.5% of Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 65.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,052,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 51.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,190,795 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $354,310,204.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 219,744 shares of company stock valued at $35,878,764. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $172.69 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $163.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.32. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.93 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

About Alphabet

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.