Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by BOCHK Asset Management Ltd

BOCHK Asset Management Ltd trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 48.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,222 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,128 shares during the quarter. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.1% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 978,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $163,578,000 after buying an additional 47,171 shares during the period. Unique Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 3,375 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Meritas Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the third quarter. Meritas Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Marotta Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 44.4% during the third quarter. Marotta Asset Management now owns 1,821 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the third quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 2,872 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,630 shares of company stock valued at $22,258,133 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5 %

GOOG stock opened at $205.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $207.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.