Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Ballast Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Ballast Advisors LLC has reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 28.5%, selling 2,071 shares in the first quarter, leaving it with 5,206 shares valued at approximately $813,000.
• Alphabet reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and had a revenue of $96.43 billion, a year-over-year increase of 13.8%.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, with a dividend yield of 0.43%, set to be paid on September 15th.

Ballast Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 28.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,206 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,071 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $26,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 249,298 shares of company stock worth $43,505,967 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG traded up $1.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $197.50. The company had a trading volume of 10,481,751 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,250,527. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $178.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.53. The company has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 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%. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

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.