Ballast Inc. Purchases 200 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ballast Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,080 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lincoln Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp now owns 2,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $661,000. FLC Capital Advisors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 23,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,295,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA now owns 9,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,329,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, WealthCare Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 425 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.61, for a total transaction of $59,334.25. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,805,628.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 425 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.61, for a total transaction of $59,334.25. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,805,628.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 16,088 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.10, for a total value of $2,237,840.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,294,404. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,138 shares of company stock valued at $35,427,655 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2 %

GOOG opened at $152.26 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $100.29 and a one year high of $155.20. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $144.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $146.33.

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.