Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Has $1.89 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 24.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,394 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,630 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Buck Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $159.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $155.72 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $147.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.27 and a 1 year high of $161.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal 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.