Apexium Financial LP Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Apexium Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,938 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the period. Apexium Financial LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SPC Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $287,000. New Century Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $385,000. RiverFront Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 214,555 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $39,354,000 after buying an additional 26,430 shares during the last quarter. Farmers National Bank raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 91.9% during the 2nd quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 8,927 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,637,000 after buying an additional 4,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $607,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Pivotal Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $205.80.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of GOOG traded up $4.81 on Thursday, reaching $201.99. The stock had a trading volume of 8,075,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,824,231. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $203.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 122,887 shares of company stock valued at $22,470,464 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% 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.