Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,505,957 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 481,635 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 4.1% of Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,042,278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $161.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.52. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.