Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 594,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 26,017 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.0% of Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $113,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Westpark Capital started coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.88.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4 %

GOOG opened at $153.36 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $167.16 and a 200-day moving average of $177.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.