Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Sells 802 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 500,931 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 802 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.7% of Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $94,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after buying an additional 1,237,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after acquiring an additional 523,416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $164.04 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $187.20 and a 200 day moving average of $176.55. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.03 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.