Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc. Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,976 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $948,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.9% of Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Granite Group Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Granite Group Advisors LLC now owns 1,773 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. Bryant Woods Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $249,000. TI Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. TI Trust Inc. now owns 4,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $820,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 100,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,088,000 after purchasing an additional 4,991 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 122,887 shares of company stock worth $22,470,464 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $197.18 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $203.84. The company has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $188.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share 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.