Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Has $343,000 Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 81.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,876 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after acquiring an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Alphabet by 65.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Alphabet by 182.1% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $422,331,000 after buying an additional 1,630,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after buying an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,630 shares of company stock worth $22,258,133. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted 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, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $202.63 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $203.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.87, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $189.03 and a 200-day moving average of $175.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

About Alphabet

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.