Burford Brothers Inc. Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Burford Brothers Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,789 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 162 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.0% of Burford Brothers Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Burford Brothers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $2,622,943,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $369,713,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. TD Cowen upped their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.26.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total value of $25,042.39. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,258.92. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% 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. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $251.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $257.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $234.23 and a 200-day moving average of $194.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current 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.