Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s 10th Largest Position

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,242,397 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 33,051 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.5% of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $235,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $154.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $178.83 and a 200 day moving average of $177.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,093,773. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.49.

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.