Employees Retirement System of Texas Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,436,271 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 54,788 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.3% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $273,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,551,533,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5,712.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,367,831 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $831,810,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after buying an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $147.74 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $143.70 and a one year high of $208.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.65.

Alphabet Company 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.