New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,531,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 166,700 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.8% of New York State Common Retirement Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,327,340,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% in the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% in the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 77.6% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 348 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Loop Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $320.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price (up previously from $245.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. CICC Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Alphabet from $260.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.65.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $168,036.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,264,750.96. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total transaction of $302,418.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 11,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,721,580. This represents a 7.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $313.72 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $277.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $225.91. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $328.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

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.