Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 435,200 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 435,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $125,146,000. Alphabet accounts for about 2.2% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Parkway Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 540.3% during the first quarter. Parkway Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 13,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,458,000 after purchasing an additional 11,811 shares in the last quarter. Penobscot Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Penobscot Wealth Management now owns 1,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Aegis Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. Aegis Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Hoge Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, Dagco Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Dagco Inc. now owns 23,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,706,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Evercore increased their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, CICC Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.90.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $361.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.55, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $172.77 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $370.08 and a 200 day moving average of $333.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s addition to the Dow Jones Industrial Average is boosting visibility and may increase index-related demand for GOOGL. Alphabet debuts in Dow Jones Industrial Average as index tilts toward tech
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s Nano Banana 2 Lite launch could strengthen its AI product lineup by offering a faster, cheaper creation tool. Google introduces a faster, cheaper image generator with Nano Banana 2 Lite
• Positive Sentiment: Visa and Google signing onto OpenUSD expands Alphabet’s footprint in digital payments infrastructure. Visa and Google Sign on to Use Money Movement Stablecoin OpenUSD
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent insider stock sales by Alphabet directors and executives appear routine and are not large enough on their own to change the investment thesis. Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock
• Negative Sentiment: A Swedish court ordered Google to pay damages in an antitrust case, reinforcing legal risk around its shopping and search practices. Swedish court orders Google pay $1.46 bn for favoring its price comparisons
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators are moving against app-store fees and payment restrictions, which could pressure Google’s app platform economics. UK targets Apple, Google app store fees for developers

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.