State of Alaska Department of Revenue Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 747,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 15,500 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.6% of State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $142,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 32.3% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 344 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $187.14 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $193.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

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.