Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Trimmed by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,426,905 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 254,728 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.8% of Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $427,693,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.9% during the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Alaethes Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the first quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Moment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.4% in the first quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 31,244 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,832,000 after purchasing an additional 2,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 222,396 shares of company stock valued at $54,105,275. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price target (up previously from $265.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, New Street Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.10.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $278.83 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $291.59. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.50, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.19.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

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.