Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,450,472 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,131 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.8% of Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $409,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value 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 approximately $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 163,624 shares of company stock valued at $27,803,730 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $176.49 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $171.06 and a 200-day moving average of $171.71. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.06 and a 12-month high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.02. 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:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.