Simplicity Wealth LLC Has $3.11 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Simplicity Wealth LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 35.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,333 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,961 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SLT Holdings LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $624,000. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 65,406 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,456,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Dundas Partners LLP boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 301,749 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,465,000 after purchasing an additional 28,224 shares during the period. Pettee Investors Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Pettee Investors Inc. now owns 23,630 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462 shares during the period. Finally, M. Kulyk & Associates LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 6,445 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $175.75 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.80 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $189.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

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.