Welch Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Welch Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,894 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,817,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 61,587.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 130,046,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,539,004,000 after purchasing an additional 129,835,437 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,807.4% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 57,069,444 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,487,226,000 after acquiring an additional 54,077,519 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,059,614,000. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 37.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 71,779,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,368,961,000 after purchasing an additional 19,612,974 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after buying an additional 9,703,425 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $146.33.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 228,239 shares of company stock valued at $32,432,382. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $156.37 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $145.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.27 and a 52-week high of $157.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet 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.