Ballast Advisors LLC Sells 152 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ballast Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 152 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 287.9% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $165.05 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $148.01 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.