Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $339.53 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,047,211 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 104,879 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.3% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $339,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total transaction of $3,759,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $355,743,153.42. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $188.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $173.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.21. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.