New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the 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 approximately 1.2% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after buying an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $19,894,651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th 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 period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of GOOG stock traded up $2.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $181.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 23,949,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,402,397. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $171.19 and a 200 day moving average of $175.18. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The business 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. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $207.13.
Read Our Latest Analysis on GOOG
Alphabet Profile
(
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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