Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 1,126 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 58,405 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,126 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.67.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $173.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $149.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.75. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $104.42 and a one year high of $176.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.