Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC Sells 910 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,709 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 910 shares during the period. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,341,000 after buying an additional 2,390 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,088,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $204,262,000. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 246.2% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 4,052 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $177.94 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $165.19 and its 200-day moving average is $176.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

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.