LA Financiere DE L Echiquier Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

LA Financiere DE L Echiquier reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 690,514 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 84,203 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 4.5% of LA Financiere DE L Echiquier's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. LA Financiere DE L Echiquier's holdings in Alphabet were worth $96,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Bornite Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $16,688,000. Markel Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 15,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $43,110,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250 shares during the last quarter. United Bank raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,033 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,654,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 23.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 323,918 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $900,929,000 after purchasing an additional 61,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 20.4% in the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 9,279 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $25,806,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 250,539 shares of company stock valued at $35,906,259 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.87 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $154.86. 27,116,876 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,494,059. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $102.63 and a 12 month high of $160.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $145.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.86. The firm has a market cap of $1.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.34, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Redburn Atlantic boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $155.61.

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.