Orca Investment Management LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Orca Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,273 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,187 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.6% of Orca Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Orca Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,692,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416,328 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,035,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,453,856,000 after purchasing an additional 335,219 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 25,064,614 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,279,955,000 after buying an additional 1,809,910 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 24,145,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,159,669,000 after buying an additional 2,058,221 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $171.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.83. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $105.16 and a 1 year high of $174.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,903,886.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total transaction of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 252,629 shares of company stock valued at $37,091,240. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

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.