Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 337,031 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.0% of Principal Financial Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Alphabet worth $1,871,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 587.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after acquiring an additional 9,135,056 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after acquiring an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Alphabet by 116.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,662,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $175.98 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.90 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $167.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.40.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

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.