Albion Financial Group UT Acquires 4,375 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Albion Financial Group UT raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 264,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,375 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 3.0% of Albion Financial Group UT’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Albion Financial Group UT’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Spreng Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 5 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 6 shares during the period. Maple Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 6 shares during the period. Private Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 7 shares during the period. Finally, Weik Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 8 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $154.40 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $145.76 and its 200-day moving average is $140.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $102.63 and a 12-month high of $160.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up previously from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $153.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were 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 directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 228,839 shares of company stock worth $32,835,757 over the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.