New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,047,885 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 616,854 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.6% of New York State Common Retirement Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Alphabet worth $1,134,188,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PDS Planning Inc raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 28,084 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,958,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,348 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 20,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,825,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 68.1% during the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 161,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,714,000 after purchasing an additional 65,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 31,116 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,385,000 after buying an additional 4,929 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $161.10 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.27 and a 12-month high of $161.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the sale, 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 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

About Alphabet

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.