PGGM Investments Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

PGGM Investments cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 33.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 524,638 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 268,626 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.6% of PGGM Investments’ holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $92,457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 11,267,743 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,742,444,000 after purchasing an additional 86,670 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 187,056 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,926,000 after buying an additional 7,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 14,855 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,297,000 after buying an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $240.76.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $250.43 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $256.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total value of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares in the company, valued at $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total transaction of $25,042.39. Following the transaction, the director owned 17,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,258.92. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.