983,800 Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Purchased by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 983,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $174,516,000. Alphabet accounts for about 1.2% of VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.6% in the second quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,142,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.8% in the second quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 21,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,822,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares during the period. Monument Group Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 29.0% in the second quarter. Monument Group Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $352,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Manchester Financial Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 59.9% in the second quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. now owns 6,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,372 shares during the period. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.8% in the second quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,419,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $251.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $234.23 and a 200-day moving average of $194.41. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $257.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total transaction of $25,042.39. Following the sale, the director owned 17,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.26.

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.