Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Legal & General Group Plc’s 7th Largest Position

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,985,913 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,686,068 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.7% of Legal & General Group Plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.34% of Alphabet worth $7,701,056,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $163.83 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $121.46 and a 1-year high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.29.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 203,367 shares of company stock worth $34,079,756. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.