Carson Advisory Inc. Acquires 108 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Carson Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,043 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the quarter. Carson Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,852,868,000 after buying an additional 4,348,188 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after purchasing an additional 9,703,425 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,269,184 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,550,942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275,060 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,744,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,658,122,000 after purchasing an additional 92,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 19,822,203 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,613,557,000 after purchasing an additional 390,118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,903,886.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at $380,389,234.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total transaction of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $168.99. 22,767,056 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,353,938. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.70 and a 52 week high of $176.42. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.49. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Alphabet Company 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.