Romano Brothers AND Company Cuts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Romano Brothers AND Company decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 46,840 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,265 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.0% of Romano Brothers AND Company’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $11,539,004,000 after purchasing an additional 129,835,437 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake 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 valued at $5,487,226,000 after purchasing an additional 54,077,519 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,059,614,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake 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. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,649,838,000 after purchasing an additional 9,703,425 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $156.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.27 and a 12-month high of $161.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,033,907. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James upped their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $157.50.

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.