Baillie Gifford & Co. Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Baillie Gifford & Co. cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,133,192 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 482,103 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned 0.06% of Alphabet worth $1,005,281,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $26,000. Intrepid Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Buck Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 250,539 shares of company stock worth $35,906,259. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $160.79 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.27 and a 1-year high of $161.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $146.19 and a 200 day moving average of $140.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $157.50.

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.