Sterling Financial Planning Inc. Buys 291 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sterling Financial Planning Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 291 shares during the quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Chico Wealth RIA bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $330,000. Summit Global Investments grew its stake in Alphabet by 67.7% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 241,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,598,000 after purchasing an additional 97,466 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 5,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, David J Yvars Group grew its stake in Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. David J Yvars Group now owns 4,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $546,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet 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 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 at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the business’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 owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $171.95 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $147.85 and a 200 day moving average of $141.39. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.54 and a 52 week high of $174.71. The company has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.82.

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.