Smith Moore & CO. Acquires 19,776 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Smith Moore & CO. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) by 1,894.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,776 shares during the quarter. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Spreng Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 4.0% during the first quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 5 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.1% during the first quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 296 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the period. Private Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% during the first quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. Finally, Weik Capital Management grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% during the first quarter. Weik Capital Management now owns 1,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,264,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the period. 34.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Alphabet from $130.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Alphabet from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. New Street Research began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $118.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Alphabet from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.32.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $94.25 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $83.34 and a 52-week high of $143.79. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of $94.07 and a 200 day moving average of $97.03. The company has a quick ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The information services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.09). Alphabet had a return on equity of 23.54% and a net margin of 21.20%. The firm had revenue of $76.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Ann Mather sold 380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.24, for a total value of $33,911.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,008,412. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 637 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.87, for a total value of $63,617.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,524,913.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ann Mather sold 380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.24, for a total value of $33,911.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,008,412. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,745 shares of company stock worth $3,424,078. 11.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Profile

(Get Rating)

Alphabet, Inc engages in the business of delivering online advertising, cloud-based solutions that provide enterprise customers with infrastructure and platform services, the provision of communication and collaboration tools, and sales of other products and services such as apps and in-app purchases, hardware, and subscription-based products.