United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund Sells 1,900 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• United Super Pty Ltd trimmed its Alphabet position by 0.2%, selling 1,900 shares and leaving 782,185 shares (about 6.9% of the fund) valued at roughly $190,149,000, making GOOGL the fund's second-largest holding.
• Insider selling has been notable—John Kent Walker and CEO Sundar Pichai sold sizeable blocks and, over the past 90 days, insiders have sold 2,112,493 shares worth about $118,605,094, with insiders now owning 11.64% of the company.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target near $367.18, while Alphabet also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share (annualized yield ~0.3%).

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 782,185 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,900 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 6.9% of United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund's holdings in Alphabet were worth $190,149,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $91,033,300,000 after buying an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $24,857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,780,875,000 after acquiring an additional 503,306 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $367.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total transaction of $9,859,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,674,560 shares in the company, valued at $508,028,012.80. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock worth $118,605,094. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded up $1.94 during trading on Friday, hitting $305.49. The stock had a trading volume of 4,862,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,633,105. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $319.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $288.58. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $349.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.24 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google's core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google's consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.

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