Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Position Lessened by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,966,311 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 183,332 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.4% of State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $304,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 629.7% during the 1st quarter. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,076 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,043,000 after purchasing an additional 33,721 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.1% during the first quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 61,242 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,470,000 after buying an additional 4,599 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the first quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 38,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,898,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Oak Grove Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 150.8% during the first quarter. Oak Grove Capital LLC now owns 30,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,670,000 after buying an additional 18,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LWM Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. LWM Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,587 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $714,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $199.32 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $185.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 222,219 shares of company stock worth $40,725,772. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Westpark Capital increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.53.

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.