Investment Partners LTD. Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Investment Partners LTD. increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,049,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. now owns 2,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $694,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 22,542 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,177,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 13,565 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,912,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.0 %

Alphabet stock traded up $15.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $173.69. The stock had a trading volume of 56,500,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,324,858. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.42 and a twelve month high of $176.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $149.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Profile

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.