Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Tufton Capital Management

Tufton Capital Management decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 111,023 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,140 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 3.3% of Tufton Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,646,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 521.7% in the fourth quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 715 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 27,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,826,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 59.7% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 11,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,587,000 after purchasing an additional 4,208 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 725,853 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $102,295,000 after purchasing an additional 68,780 shares during the period. Finally, Archer Investment Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $155.72 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $147.46 and its two-hundred 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 PE ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.27 and a 1 year 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 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 return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. 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, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet 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.