Ballast Inc. Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Ballast Inc. trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 31.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,394 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,945 shares during the quarter. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 11.4% in 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 valued at $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after acquiring an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after acquiring an additional 104,859 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.69.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at $598,149,304. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $274.57 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $240.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $275.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.