Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,759,314 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 189,404 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.2% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of Alphabet worth $1,973,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after purchasing an additional 979,083 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,414,179,000 after buying an additional 684,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $4,101,040,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $182.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,065 shares of company stock worth $31,025,543. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $1.71 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $165.11. The stock had a trading volume of 18,492,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,161,213. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $175.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $165.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.46 and a 52 week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Alphabet Company 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.