Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 13.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 275,390 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 42,249 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.0% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Alphabet were worth $42,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after buying an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity
In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 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 $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%
Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $0.98 during trading on Thursday, reaching $202.94. 25,203,857 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,137,568. 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $182.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on GOOGL
Alphabet Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Before you consider Alphabet, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Alphabet wasn't on the list.
While Alphabet currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
We are about to experience the greatest A.I. boom in stock market history...
Thanks to a pivotal economic catalyst, specific tech stocks will skyrocket just like they did during the "dot com" boom in the 1990s.
That’s why, we’ve hand-selected 7 tiny tech disruptor stocks positioned to surge.
- The first pick is a tiny under-the-radar A.I. stock that's trading for just $3.00. This company already has 98 registered patents for cutting-edge voice and sound recognition technology... And has lined up major partnerships with some of the biggest names in the auto, tech, and music industry... plus many more.
- The second pick presents an affordable avenue to bolster EVs and AI development…. Analysts are calling this stock a “buy” right now and predict a high price target of $19.20, substantially more than its current $6 trading price.
- Our final and favorite pick is generating a brand-new kind of AI. It's believed this tech will be bigger than the current well-known leader in this industry… Analysts predict this innovative tech is gearing up to create a tidal wave of new wealth, fueling a $15.7 TRILLION market boom.
Right now, we’re staring down the barrel of a true once-in-a-lifetime moment. As an investment opportunity, this kind of breakthrough doesn't come along every day.
And the window to get in on the ground-floor — maximizing profit potential from this expected market surge — is closing quickly...
Simply enter your email below to get the names and tickers of the 7 small stocks with potential to make investors very, very happy.
Get This Free Report
MarketBeat All Access