State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. Has $288.14 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 12.2%, selling 255,427 shares, resulting in a total holding of approximately $288 million.
• Insider selling activity has occurred, with CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares for about $5.8 million, potentially indicating reduced confidence in the stock among executives.
• Alphabet recently reported strong earnings with an EPS of $2.31, surpassing analysts' expectations, and has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 12.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,844,339 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 255,427 shares during the quarter. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $288,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOG. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $204.91. 21,099,072 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,037,520. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $2.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $185.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.87.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547 over the last ninety days. 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.