Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,289 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,736 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.8% of Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,148,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $39,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $42,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $203.00 price objective (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $191.34 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.33, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $172.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 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.