Orca Investment Management LLC Has $6.66 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Orca Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 7.2% in the second quarter, holding 37,514 shares valued at approximately $6.66 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Brighton Jones LLC and Demars Financial Group LLC, have significantly increased their stakes in Alphabet, with Demars raising its stake by 73.5%.
• Analyst ratings for Alphabet remain strong, with several firms raising target prices and a majority rating the stock as a Buy or Strong Buy.

Orca Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,514 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,917 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 6.0% of Orca Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Orca Investment Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 107.9% during the first quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,659 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,899 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 91,681 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,323,000 after acquiring an additional 14,931 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the first quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 52,342 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,177,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 73.5% during the first quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 811,927 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $126,847,000 after acquiring an additional 344,016 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. KeyCorp set a $265.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $241.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total value of $25,042.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 17,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 953 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total transaction of $229,863.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,171,312.80. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 244,438 shares of company stock valued at $53,216,085. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.2%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $251.71 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $230.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $191.42. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $256.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

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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