Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Baskin Financial Services Inc.

Baskin Financial Services Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,451 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 310 shares during the quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,018,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 103,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,062,000 after buying an additional 9,900 shares during the last quarter. HFG Advisors Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 16.8% during the first quarter. HFG Advisors Inc. now owns 2,094 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the period. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 22.9% during the first quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 922 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $253.30 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $256.96. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $231.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $192.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total value of $25,042.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 17,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $280.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.24.

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.