Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 130.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,080,060 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,307,801 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.0% of Cerity Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $569,944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Indie Asset Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Indie Asset Partners LLC now owns 4,205 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 82,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,578,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 17,908 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,502,000 after buying an additional 1,077 shares in the last quarter. LB Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $2,654,000. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,325 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,420,000 after buying an additional 2,726 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Roth Mkm decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Redburn Atlantic raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $157.97.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 in the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $156.01 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.63 and a twelve month high of $160.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.05. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.40.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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 return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share 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.