983,800 Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Acquired by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

Key Points

• The Virginia Retirement Systems ET Al acquired approximately 983,800 shares of Alphabet Inc. in Q2, valued at around $174.5 million, making it the 7th largest holding in their portfolio.
• Alphabet's stock is currently down 2.2%, with shares opening at $251.34, while the company's market cap stands at $3.04 trillion.
• In their recent earnings report, Alphabet exceeded expectations with $2.31 EPS and reported a year-over-year revenue increase of 13.8%.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 983,800 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $174,516,000. Alphabet accounts for 1.2% of VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 580,897.4% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $2,622,943,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the first 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 9.9% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $369,713,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $251.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.77, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $257.88. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $234.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total transaction of $25,042.39. Following the sale, the director owned 17,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.92, for a total value of $145,752.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,242,778.72. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $246.26.

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.

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