Cherokee Insurance Co Invests $497,000 in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Cherokee Insurance Co purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $497,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Cable Hill Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 9,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,574,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 21,498 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,359,000 after buying an additional 1,518 shares during the last quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 1,211,074 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $189,206,000 after buying an additional 8,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FWG Holdings LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.6% during the first quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 8,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,308,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.81.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $287.43 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.20. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $292.36.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $592,760,192.85. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 221,796 shares of company stock worth $53,983,001 in the last quarter. Company 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.