Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 370,241 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,996 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.4% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $106,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $416.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $383.44.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $346.12 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $366.29 and its 200-day moving average is $336.81. The stock has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $184.73 and a twelve month high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.