Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,189,354 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 221,577 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Principal Financial Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.08% of Alphabet worth $1,591,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after purchasing an additional 294,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.38.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $180.22. 13,287,389 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,210,158. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $169.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.49. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.09, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.