Employees Retirement System of Texas Sells 54,788 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Employees Retirement System of Texas decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,436,271 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 54,788 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.3% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $273,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $147.74 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $177.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $143.70 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.65.

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.