Strs Ohio Makes New $317.36 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,052,233 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $317,357,000. Alphabet accounts for about 1.3% of Strs Ohio’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. GK Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. GK Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,629 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Intrua Financial LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.4% in the first quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 8,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Turn8 Private Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Turn8 Private Wealth Inc. now owns 21,756 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,364,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 42,811 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,620,000 after acquiring an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.7% in the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 398,885 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,684,000 after purchasing an additional 17,933 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Phillip Securities cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Roth Capital upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.44.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $239.17 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $199.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.61. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $241.66.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.