SFE Investment Counsel Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

SFE Investment Counsel trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,810 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,040 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.4% of SFE Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meritage Group LP raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% in the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 165.8% in the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Armor Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its stake in Alphabet by 301.5% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 522 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $171.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 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. The business has a fifty day moving average of $147.85 and a 200 day moving average of $141.39. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.54 and a 1 year high of $174.71.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Redburn Atlantic increased their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush increased their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.82.

Alphabet Company 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.