Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

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

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 48,076 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.20, for a total transaction of $6,836,407.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,809,495. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Alphabet Stock Up 10.0 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $173.69 on Friday. The firm 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.42 and a 1 year high of $176.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.