Rakuten Securities Inc. Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,690 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Advisors Network Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the first quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% in the first quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. now owns 82 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the period. West Michigan Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the first quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 252 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Somerville Kurt F raised its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% in the first quarter. Somerville Kurt F now owns 118 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $330,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,301,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $159.86.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1 %

Alphabet stock opened at $155.72 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $147.46 and its 200-day moving average is $141.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.27 and a 1 year high of $161.70. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.