Heritage Investment Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Heritage Investment Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,724 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 80 shares during the quarter. Heritage Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in Alphabet by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank boosted its stake in Alphabet by 33.0% in the third quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 7,359 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,826 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.6% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 27,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer boosted 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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, April 16th. Raymond James boosted 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. Susquehanna boosted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six 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 price target of $159.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $157.95 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.12. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 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 earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business 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%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value 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 approximately $362,516,961.51. 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 on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 in the last quarter. 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.