Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 231,514 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,218,958 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 231,514 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.5% of Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $422,578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 112,054 shares of company stock valued at $17,722,605. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $171.98 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $160.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.63. The company has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.