Ballast Inc. Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ballast Inc. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 385 shares during the quarter. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3 %

Alphabet stock opened at $165.05 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $163.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.58. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $121.46 and a 1-year high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 220,426 shares of company stock valued at $35,993,340. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Scotiabank began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Pivotal Research started coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.90.

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.