Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich Has $15.19 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,768 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 63 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 4.9% of Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,101,040,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,600,970,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 198.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $547,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,583,128 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Alphabet by 93.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,591,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $647,064,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,918,113 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $596,572,000 after purchasing an additional 1,308,691 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,043.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 146,288 shares of company stock valued at $25,345,053 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ GOOG traded down $5.39 on Thursday, reaching $187.27. 12,871,648 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,728,900. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $178.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $158.56. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.68 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.38.

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.