Ycg LLC Has $39.55 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Ycg LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 1.3%, now holding 253,140 shares valued at approximately $39.5 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including the National Pension Service and Fox Hill Wealth Management, increased their stakes in Alphabet during the first quarter, with the National Pension Service boasting a holding of nearly 10 million shares.
• Alphabet's stock has recently seen an increase of 1.3%, and the company reported impressive quarterly earnings, surpassing estimates with $2.31 earnings per share and revenue of $96.43 billion.

YCG LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 253,140 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,260 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 3.1% of YCG LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. YCG LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $204.91. 20,587,912 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,993,691. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.82. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $489,572,657.16. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.