Vestcor Inc Sells 11,476 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Vestcor Inc lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 134,817 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 11,476 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 0.7% of Vestcor Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the second quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 16,790 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,080,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the third quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,385,565. This represents a 2.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 160,789 shares of company stock valued at $27,374,143. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $177.10 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $171.26 and a 200 day moving average of $171.73. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.49, a PEG 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.06 and a 52-week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 currently 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.