Vestor Capital LLC Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Vestor Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 263,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,044 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.5% of Vestor Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $37,084,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,649,838,000 after purchasing an additional 9,703,425 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,600,970,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,852,868,000 after buying an additional 4,348,188 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 198.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $547,215,000 after buying an additional 2,583,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 93.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,591,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $647,064,000 after buying an additional 2,222,950 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $165.67.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.73, for a total value of $119,784.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,164 shares in the company, valued at $1,072,665.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.08, for a total transaction of $3,219,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,355,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $336,980,728.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.73, for a total value of $119,784.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,072,665.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,629 shares of company stock worth $37,091,240 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2 %

GOOG stock traded up $0.42 during trading on Thursday, hitting $171.58. The company had a trading volume of 11,914,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,523,879. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $108.48 and a one year high of $176.42. The business has a 50-day moving average of $153.41 and a 200-day moving average of $144.40. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.