Ballast Advisors LLC Sells 766 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ballast Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 766 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% in the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, MKT Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the third quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

GOOGL opened at $178.12 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.90 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The company has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $166.74 and a 200 day moving average of $170.36.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 184,295 shares of company stock worth $30,698,791 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.