Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,420 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 660 shares during the period. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Intrepid Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Buck Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 16,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.10, for a total value of $2,237,840.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 52,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,294,404. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 16,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.10, for a total transaction of $2,237,840.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,440 shares in the company, valued at $7,294,404. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 251,138 shares of company stock worth $35,427,655. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $146.33.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $152.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.39. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.29 and a 1 year high of $155.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.77 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.