Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Buys 1,643 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,190 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.8% of Smith Thornton Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Community Bank N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.32.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.94 on Thursday, hitting $192.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 74,740,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,272,972. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $175.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.22% and a net margin of 31.12%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.