Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 975 shares during the quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Smart Money Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 24.6% in the 1st quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 94.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc now owns 9,760 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,525,000 after acquiring an additional 4,746 shares during the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,447 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $539,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 33.6% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 82,868 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,946,000 after acquiring an additional 20,861 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Lake Street Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $278.06 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $291.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $247.49 and a 200 day moving average of $203.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total transaction of $32,681.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,253,567.20. The trade was a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,896 shares of company stock valued at $45,092,175. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.