Ballast Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Ballast Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,095 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.8% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $265.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, China Renaissance lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total value of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,004 shares in the company, valued at $5,253,567.20. This trade represents a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.33, for a total transaction of $269,342.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,517 shares in the company, valued at $4,098,584.61. This represents a 6.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 189,896 shares of company stock valued at $44,892,175 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $284.75 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $249.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $203.28. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $291.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.