Doesn't financial institutions frown upon high PE ratios? At least the very best do (like Warren Buffett).
If institutions had the rule to only hold companies with low P/E, they might as well hire kids with down syndrome as traders.
GOOG is in the S&P 500 and widely held and held by institutions can mean mutual funds and investment companies and I never heard of such rule about high or low PEs.
Not too low PEs, but a mutual fund I know, never buys shares with a PE above 20, its an inviolable internal policy.
it's called window dressing. Institutions like to hold the companies that have done the "BEST" so you'll see google 50% return for the year and WE OWN IT... however the catch it that they bought it when it was up 52% and are down 2%... they don't tell you that
Buffett is not using P/E as far as I know. He recently bought CarMax p/e 22.10 for example. He uses "owner earnings".