Cullen Investment Group LTD. Invests $14.77 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 104,811 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,771,000. Alphabet comprises about 2.6% of Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Veracity Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,173 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 7,359 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,826 shares during the period. CNB Bank increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 27,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Finally, Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC now owns 8,238 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 228,839 shares of company stock worth $32,835,757. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $156.00 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.27 and a twelve month high of $161.70. 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 50-day moving average of $146.95 and a 200-day moving average of $141.51. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.