Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is New York State Teachers Retirement System's 9th Largest Position

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,010,819 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 206,553 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.4% of New York State Teachers Retirement System's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. New York State Teachers Retirement System's holdings in Alphabet were worth $626,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.38.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $1.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $178.36. 5,489,561 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,072,166. The company's 50 day moving average price is $168.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.81. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01. 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 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. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company'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 $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 183,143 shares of company stock worth $30,529,028 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company 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.