Manitou Investment Management Ltd. Has $125,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Manitou Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 29.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 800 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.0% of Manitou Investment Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Manitou Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $177.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $162.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.17.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet 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.