Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Purchased by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,356,193 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,894 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.0% of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $389,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, New Street Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $414.54.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $347.15 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $187.46 and a one year high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The business has a fifty day moving average of $367.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $338.65. The company has a market cap of $4.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly developed a new AI server chip, “Frozen v2,” to make Gemini run more efficiently, which could improve margins and help ease compute constraints for Google Cloud. Reuters: Google plans new chip to run Gemini models more efficiently
• Positive Sentiment: Google released new Gemini models, including cheaper and more efficient versions, signaling continued AI product momentum ahead of earnings. TechCrunch: Google releases three new Gemini models
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary remain constructive on Alphabet going into Q2 results, with expectations that Search and Google Cloud can still deliver strong growth. Yahoo Finance: Alphabet Q2 Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s earnings report on Wednesday is expected to be a major market test for AI spending, cloud growth, and capital expenditure discipline. Invezz: What to expect from Alphabet’s Q2 earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is also facing a cluster of securities-fraud investigation headlines, though these are largely legal overhangs at this stage rather than new operational news. PR Newswire: Securities fraud investigation continues
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that a flagship Gemini model remains delayed, adding to investor worries that heavy AI spending may not translate into results quickly enough. Reuters: Alphabet’s Gemini delay, spending worries loom over earnings

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.