Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s 5th Largest Position

Baskin Financial Services Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 354,965 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 330 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 4.8% of Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $62,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. ACT Advisors LLC. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 1,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 5,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $909,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Kooman & Associates increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 4,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brueske Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $244.64 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $256.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $227.94 and a 200-day moving average of $190.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. 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:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group set a $255.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.00.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 953 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total transaction of $229,863.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,171,312.80. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 276,338 shares of company stock worth $59,062,683. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.