Bailard Inc. Sells 238 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Bailard Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 105,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 238 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Veracity Capital LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its holdings in Alphabet by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 7,359 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826 shares during the period. CNB Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 27,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC now owns 8,238 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $14.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $172.37. 22,014,553 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,186,350. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.42 and a 12 month high of $176.42. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $148.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $159.86.

Alphabet 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.