Optas LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Optas LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 126,345 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 321 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 5.3% of Optas LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Optas LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Spreng Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the first quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the first quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 296 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $823,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the first quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weik Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the first quarter. Weik Capital Management now owns 1,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,264,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 228,839 shares of company stock valued at $32,835,757 in the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $174.00 to $172.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $153.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.64.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3 %

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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

About Alphabet

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.