Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $55.94 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 334,610 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 33,641 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.6% of Kentucky Retirement Systems’ portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $55,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,963,128,000 after purchasing an additional 979,083 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after acquiring an additional 684,968 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,688,743,000 after purchasing an additional 636,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,327,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,261,103,000 after buying an additional 282,121 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given 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 a consensus price target of $200.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. This trade represents a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $173.89 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.65.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.