New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Trims Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 273,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,300 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.5% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $42,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,410 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. OMC Financial Services LTD lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. OMC Financial Services LTD now owns 33,060 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,112,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 35,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,462,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 3,153 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $490,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the period. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JMP Securities raised Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 182,943 shares of company stock valued at $31,223,348 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $182.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.13. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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.