Ballast Advisors LLC Sells 2,071 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ballast Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 28.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,206 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,071 shares during the quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 17,328 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,300,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Kidder Stephen W lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Kidder Stephen W now owns 3,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $687,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Objectivity Squared LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC now owns 16,342 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,605,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Tranquility Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 14,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,263,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $194.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $176.86 and a 200-day moving average of $174.53. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.19.

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.