Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Holdings Lowered by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,011,380 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 33,500 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.8% of State of Michigan Retirement System's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. State of Michigan Retirement System's holdings in Alphabet were worth $311,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.68.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $1.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $185.06. The stock had a trading volume of 33,864,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,124,723. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $172.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 0.45%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.