Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Key Points

• Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 3.5% during Q2, now holding approximately 2,056,368 shares valued at $364.8 million.
• Alphabet's quarterly earnings report showed $2.31 EPS, beating estimates by $0.19, with revenues of $96.43 billion, up 13.8% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.3%, marking a modest payout ratio of 8.95%.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,056,368 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 74,637 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.2% of Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Alphabet were worth $364,779,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $230.35.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,149,304. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,716 shares in the company, valued at $1,425,799.04. The trade was a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $246.57 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $215.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $183.72. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $256.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

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.

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