Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is West Branch Capital LLC’s 5th Largest Position

West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 87,045 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,293 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 5.3% of West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% in the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 27.9% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 10.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after acquiring an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,567,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.44.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $200.21 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $202.29. The company’s fifty day moving average is $186.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.69. 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:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.