Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan's 6th Largest Position

Key Points

• The NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 2.6%, selling 2,800 shares, and now holds 107,000 shares worth approximately $16.7 million.
• Alphabet recently reported earnings of $2.31 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a quarterly revenue of $96.43 billion, an increase of 13.8% compared to the previous year.
• The company announced a dividend of $0.21 per share, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 0.4%, with an ex-dividend date set for September 8th.

NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 107,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,800 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.1% of NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan's holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake 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 worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 33,504,543 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,380,605,000 after acquiring an additional 4,247,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $786,942,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,656,704. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 249,399 shares of company stock valued at $43,525,794. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $5.80 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $195.75. 23,350,404 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,139,204. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $179.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.39.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.