Valley National Advisers Inc. Has $645,000 Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,240 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 4,867 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $762,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 8,588 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,308,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 570 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the first quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 14,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,239,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. now owns 2,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.86.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,288 shares of company stock worth $25,345,053 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $187.39 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $175.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.57. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.83 and a 52-week high of $187.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

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.