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

Cigna Investments Inc. New lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,525 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.8% of Cigna Investments Inc. New’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after buying an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after purchasing an additional 979,083 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,414,179,000 after purchasing an additional 684,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $4,101,040,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total transaction of $3,973,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,235,511 shares in the company, valued at $394,746,532.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 121,608 shares of company stock worth $21,567,504 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $1.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $163.17. The company had a trading volume of 18,204,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,504,453. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $163.66.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.