Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich Sells 3,105 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich trimmed its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% in Q4, selling 3,105 shares and now holds 95,815 shares worth about $30.07 million, representing roughly 7.9% of the fund and its largest holding.
• Alphabet has fresh bullish catalysts — new AI agent tools, eighth‑gen TPUs and multi‑billion enterprise deals (e.g., Thinking Machines, Merck) with analysts holding a consensus "Buy" (avg. target ~$347) — but the stock faces offsetting pressure from recent institutional reductions and insiders who sold about 2.04 million shares (~$94.2M) over the past three months.

Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,815 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,105 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 7.9% of Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich's portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich's holdings in Alphabet were worth $30,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,790 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 29,343 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,208,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 256,717 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $80,558,000 after purchasing an additional 15,668 shares during the last quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC now owns 38,846 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keener Financial Planning LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 45.0% in the 4th quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC now owns 725 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at $5,580,469.82. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,037,294 shares of company stock worth $94,216,897. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $347.16.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out a new set of AI agent tools and an enterprise Gemini Agent platform to compete with Anthropic and OpenAI — a direct monetization push for Google Cloud that boosts expectations for faster enterprise adoption. Google launches new AI agent tools
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet unveiled eighth‑gen TPUs split into TPU 8t (training) and TPU 8i (inference) to cut model costs and differentiate Google Cloud from Nvidia — a strategic infrastructure move that could improve margins and attract large AI workloads. Google Cloud launches two new AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Thinking Machines Lab signed a multi‑billion dollar deal to expand on Google Cloud’s AI infrastructure, validating demand for Cloud’s GPU/TPU capacity and pipeline revenue potential. Thinking Machines multi‑billion deal
• Positive Sentiment: Merck announced a multi‑year partnership that could direct up to $1B of AI infrastructure and engineering spend to Google Cloud — a large, high‑visibility enterprise win. Merck to partner with Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: BMO raised its price target and called Alphabet a go‑to way to own AI, a notable sell‑side endorsement that can lift sentiment and flows into the stock. BMO raises target to $410
• Neutral Sentiment: Google added AI automation to Workspace and built Chrome features for enterprises — product progress that supports long‑term monetization but has uncertain near‑term revenue impact. Google updates Workspace
• Neutral Sentiment: Google partnered with Cadence to accelerate automated chip design (Gemini integration) — strategically relevant for in‑house silicon efforts, but timing and revenue contribution remain uncertain. Google partners with Cadence
• Negative Sentiment: Large reported institutional reductions (several fund 13F filings show big cuts to GOOG/GOOGL positions), which can create short‑term selling pressure even if driven by rebalancing. Janney 13F reduction
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling (disclosed director sale of ~1,050 shares) adds to negative optics for some investors, though the trade size is small versus Alphabet’s market cap. Insider sale filing

Alphabet Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $337.73 on Thursday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $306.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $303.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $4.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.49 and a twelve month high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company's revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.15 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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