Capital Investment Counsel LLC Buys 2,995 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Capital Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 73.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,068 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,995 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its position in Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.3% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 344 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,630 shares of company stock worth $22,258,133 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $205.60 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $207.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $189.70 and a 200-day moving average of $175.54. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. 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:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm 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 was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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