Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Holdings Boosted by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 315,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,292 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 0.7% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $161.10 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $148.20 and its 200-day moving average is $142.40. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.27 and a 52-week high of $161.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current year.

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.