Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Public Sector Pension Investment Board decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 11.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,932,970 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 247,730 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.7% of Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $320,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 376,816 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,637,000 after purchasing an additional 16,253 shares during the last quarter. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC now owns 19,221 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,517,000 after purchasing an additional 6,404 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.6% during the 2nd quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 37,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,913,000 after buying an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.03.

Alphabet Trading Up 5.6 %

GOOGL opened at $185.17 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.68 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company’s 50-day moving average is $169.70 and its 200 day moving average is $170.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 28,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,385,565. This represents a 2.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,923 shares of company stock worth $34,244,676 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.