Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 375,996 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 826 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.3% of South Dakota Investment Council’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $66,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,299,725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,334,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,996 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,380,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,183,979,000 after buying an additional 440,526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of GOOG opened at $284.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $291.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $246.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $202.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Phillip Securities cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.81.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total value of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,253,567.20. The trade was a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 222,442 shares of company stock valued at $51,200,307 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.