New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 222,380 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,600 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.2% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after purchasing an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.38.
Get Our Latest Research Report on GOOG
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $175.16 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $170.54 and a 200-day moving average of $175.29. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. The firm'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 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.
Alphabet Company Profile
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Free Report)
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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