Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Capital Analysts LLC

Capital Analysts LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,568 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 61,587.1% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 130,046,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,539,004,000 after purchasing an additional 129,835,437 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 1,807.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 57,069,444 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,487,226,000 after acquiring an additional 54,077,519 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $3,059,614,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Alphabet by 37.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 71,779,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,368,961,000 after acquiring an additional 19,612,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,649,838,000 after acquiring an additional 9,703,425 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $159.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $156.88 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.61. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.27 and a 52-week high of $161.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.