Employees Retirement System of Texas Purchases 13,740 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 512,983 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,740 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.9% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $93,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its stake in Alphabet by 59.2% during the 1st quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,728,640.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 217,592 shares of company stock valued at $35,922,911. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Pivotal Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Argus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.14.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $162.98 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s fifty day moving average is $162.06 and its 200 day moving average is $167.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

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.