New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $34.74 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 222,380 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,600 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,376,066,000 after acquiring an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $207.63.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of GOOG traded up $1.04 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $178.70. The stock had a trading volume of 24,662,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,392,262. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock's 50 day moving average is $171.19 and its 200 day moving average is $175.18.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Alphabet 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.