Berkshire Money Management Inc. Has $298,000 Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Berkshire Money Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the quarter. Berkshire Money Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $298,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,088,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $204,262,000. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 246.2% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 4,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $96,465,000 after acquiring an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.2%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $171.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $451,452,029.28. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 216,306 shares of company stock worth $35,782,927. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.