Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 26.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 947,218 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 196,492 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.7% of Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $133,497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. DC Investments Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $115,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $184,000. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. grew its position in Alphabet by 10.8% during the first quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. now owns 82 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 8 shares during the period. qPULA Trading Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $279,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 29.2% in the first quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 115 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $155.72 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $147.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.87. 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 P/E ratio of 26.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.27 and a twelve month high of $161.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $159.86.

About Alphabet

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.