Strs Ohio Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,366,468 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $369,713,000. Alphabet accounts for about 1.5% of Strs Ohio’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $96,465,000 after buying an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $737,000. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Financial Consultants Inc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 210,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $39,996,000 after buying an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of GOOG opened at $239.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $242.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $200.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Barclays reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.56.

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.