Scharf Investments LLC Has $3.91 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Scharf Investments LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,510 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Scharf Investments LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Harrell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,078,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,684 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,463,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,275 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunburst Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $495,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,029 shares of company stock valued at $18,462,883 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $207.71 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $191.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Company 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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