Allstate Corp Has $32.94 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Allstate Corp raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3,224.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 173,988 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 168,754 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Allstate Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Allstate Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Community Bank N.A. lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,014,000 after buying an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after buying an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $145.60 on Monday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $175.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.93. The company has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.38 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

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.