Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 31.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 163,184 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 75,718 shares during the period. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $29,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,034,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,537,173 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 178.3% during the first quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 4,003,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $619,163,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565,400 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.92, for a total transaction of $145,752.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,116 shares in the company, valued at $1,242,778.72. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $253.08 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $235.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.45. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $257.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.95, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $259.12.

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.