Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 755 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $106,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Buck Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James raised their target price 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. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

GOOG stock opened at $155.72 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $147.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.97. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $103.27 and a one year high of $161.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.