Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey Buys 26,957 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 882,201 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 26,957 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.4% of Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $155,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gimbal Financial boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Gimbal Financial now owns 2,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $489,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Missouri Trust & Investment Co boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the second quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 16,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,981,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Silver Coast Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,317 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $761,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. AM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the second quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 6,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 10,428 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,838,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. BNP Paribas began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price objective for the company. Roth Capital boosted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on Alphabet from $295.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.65.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $318.58 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $263.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $319.48. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 225,174 shares of company stock worth $58,095,223 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.