Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $67.70 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 408,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 34,473 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 2.0% of Kentucky Retirement Systems’ portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $67,695,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Koa Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% during the third quarter. Koa Wealth Management LLC now owns 38,557 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,395,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 60,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,083,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the third quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 22.7% during the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 36,529 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,058,000 after purchasing an additional 6,759 shares during the period. Finally, Miramar Capital LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 75.6% during the third quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 77,024 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,774,000 after purchasing an additional 33,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $168.95 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $168.47 and its 200-day moving average is $170.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.90 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.