Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. Has $655,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,303 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 140 shares during the quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. now owns 2,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Atticus Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Congress Park Capital LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 22,542 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,177,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Emerald Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 13,565 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,912,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total transaction of $1,826,979.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 48,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,365,523.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,958 shares of company stock valued at $22,383,553 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $180.26 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.83 and a twelve month high of $182.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.65, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

About Alphabet

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.