Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Lowered by Violich Capital Management Inc.

Violich Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 315,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,325 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 7.2% of Violich Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Violich Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 487,435,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $63,785,809,000 after buying an additional 1,302,104 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 1,900.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 217,154,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,770,809,000 after purchasing an additional 206,300,042 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 111,197.8% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 170,420,243 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,036,178,000 after purchasing an additional 170,267,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 118,576,618 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,271,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499,107 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $154.40 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company 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. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $102.63 and a one year high of $160.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $145.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $140.19.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,043.96. 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 three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. UBS Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp raised their target price on Alphabet from $153.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.64.

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.