TIAA Trust National Association Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

TIAA Trust National Association lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 329,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,892 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $62,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $169.93 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.30.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

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.