Vontobel Holding Ltd. Purchases 94,101 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,418,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 94,101 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.0% of Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $199,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 61,587.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 130,046,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,539,004,000 after acquiring an additional 129,835,437 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 1,807.4% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 57,069,444 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,487,226,000 after purchasing an additional 54,077,519 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,059,614,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Alphabet by 37.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 71,779,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,368,961,000 after purchasing an additional 19,612,974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 11.3% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $156.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $103.27 and a fifty-two week high of $161.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $146.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.51.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted 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. Six investment 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 a consensus target price of $159.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet 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 directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 228,839 shares of company stock valued at $32,835,757 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.