California Public Employees Retirement System Buys 570,600 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,921,441 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 570,600 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.3% of California Public Employees Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.10% of Alphabet worth $2,114,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. REDW Wealth LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.3% during the second quarter. REDW Wealth LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 2,325 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 1,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LongView Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 5,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $909,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $322.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $276.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $225.28. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $328.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.76, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $300.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $310.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 228,906 shares of company stock valued at $62,127,158 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Profile

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.