Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $98.66 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 541,662 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 28,256 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.5% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $98,664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. First National Advisers LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 18,760 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,621,000 after purchasing an additional 3,244 shares in the last quarter. Bey Douglas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $8,028,000. Matisse Capital raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 16,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 2,026 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $2,675,000. Finally, WT Wealth Management acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $270,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho boosted their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $222.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.08.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $163.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.32.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,713,977.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,713,977.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 180,167 shares of company stock valued at $29,762,606. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.