Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 503,157 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.6% of Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $88,671,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. HSBC began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $285.00 price target for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.12.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $253.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $235.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.95, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $257.33.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.