Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 675,068 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 31,801 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado's holdings in Alphabet were worth $128,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Shorepoint Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Shorepoint Capital Partners LLC now owns 18,551 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,533,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. now owns 53,459 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,181,000 after buying an additional 2,040 shares during the last quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 14,996 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,856,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 253,542 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $48,284,000 after buying an additional 15,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rinkey Investments boosted its position in Alphabet by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Rinkey Investments now owns 1,481 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 148,053 shares of company stock valued at $25,339,647. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $2.51 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $163.40. 11,109,711 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,173,173. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $162.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 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 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

About Alphabet

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.