Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $50.35 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 322,283 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,797 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.7% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Alphabet were worth $50,350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock traded up $3.84 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $178.27. 73,956,281 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,984,165. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.