Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $128.56 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 675,068 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 31,801 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado's holdings in Alphabet were worth $128,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $162.06. 15,933,490 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,238,112. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $163.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

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.