Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 502,800 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 10,200 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.5% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings in Alphabet were worth $83,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Veracity Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 19,902 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,004,000 after buying an additional 1,345 shares during the period. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 98,044 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,798,000 after buying an additional 9,701 shares during the period. GenTrust LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $755,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 2,193 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.9% in the 1st quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 99,625 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,036,000 after purchasing an additional 24,672 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $4.24 during trading on Thursday, reaching $180.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 25,317,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,198,012. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $162.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $169.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $127.90 and a one year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,835 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 242,552 shares of company stock worth $40,287,253. Insiders own 11.55% 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.