Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Makes New $34,000 Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 241 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,852,868,000 after purchasing an additional 4,348,188 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,649,838,000 after buying an additional 9,703,425 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,269,184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,550,942,000 after buying an additional 1,275,060 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,800,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,058,842,000 after buying an additional 481,376 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,744,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,658,122,000 after acquiring an additional 92,741 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total transaction of $3,753,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $380,389,234.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,187.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of GOOG traded up $3.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $172.98. 21,087,028 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,735,842. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $105.79 and a 12-month high of $176.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

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.