Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Has $63.44 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 406,059 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,960 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.2% of Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $63,439,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.38.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3%

GOOG opened at $180.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.