New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $1.34 Billion Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,052,649 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 675,222 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.8% of New York State Common Retirement Fund's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.07% of Alphabet worth $1,335,532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 70.6% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,279,000 after acquiring an additional 41,880 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. CV Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 37.4% during the 1st quarter. CV Advisors LLC now owns 50,829 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,672,000 after acquiring an additional 13,833 shares in the last quarter. Embree Financial Group grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 66,561 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,046,000 after acquiring an additional 1,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 207,795 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $31,362,000 after acquiring an additional 7,179 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $3.30 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $175.58. 30,994,235 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,120,920. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $164.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $170.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.90 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 207,495 shares of company stock valued at $34,586,641. Insiders own 11.55% 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.