Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Paragon Financial Partners Inc.

Paragon Financial Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,378 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Paragon Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 61,587.1% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 129,835,437 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,807.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $3,059,614,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 37.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 71,779,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,368,961,000 after acquiring an additional 19,612,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Susquehanna raised their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $157.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 250,539 shares of company stock worth $35,906,259. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $159.19 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $146.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.11. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.27 and a twelve month high of $161.70. The company has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current 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.