Welch & Forbes LLC Acquires 921 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Welch & Forbes LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,173,231 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 2.5% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $165,344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 152,936 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,165,000 after purchasing an additional 18,671 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 25.6% during the third quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,210 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $200,000. Financial Management Network Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the third quarter. Financial Management Network Inc. now owns 17,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,445,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,010 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.73, for a total transaction of $119,784.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,072,665.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James upped their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5 %

GOOG traded up $0.84 on Monday, reaching $169.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,132,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,754,559. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $105.79 and a 1 year high of $176.42. The business’s 50 day moving average is $152.08 and its 200 day moving average is $143.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

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.