Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC Purchases 272 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 272 shares during the quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&G PLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,738 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $927,000. Finally, Stevens Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 172.9% during the 3rd quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,254,000 after buying an additional 57,810 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 121,630 shares of company stock valued at $22,258,133. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $202.63 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $189.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.35. The company has a market cap of $2.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $203.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

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.