John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,550 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Veracity Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.4% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 33.0% during the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 7,359 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826 shares during the period. CNB Bank raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% during the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 27,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,655,000 after buying an additional 1,710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the third 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. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $155.72 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.97. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $103.27 and a one year high of $161.70. The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business earned $1.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.