Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Sells 1,263,382 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 16.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,510,246 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,263,382 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.0% of Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.05% of Alphabet worth $1,147,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,857,017,000 after purchasing an additional 4,224,497 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Alphabet by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,034,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,537,173 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 225,072 shares of company stock worth $58,074,027 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Melius Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $308.73.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $314.49 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $270.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $220.62. 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 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $328.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its 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 net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

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.