Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Position Increased by Leelyn Smith LLC

Leelyn Smith LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 40,218 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,394 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.6% of Leelyn Smith LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Leelyn Smith LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PFG Investments LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.6% in the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $25,679,000 after buying an additional 2,269 shares during the period. Kelman Lazarov Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% in the first quarter. Kelman Lazarov Inc. now owns 13,518 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,887,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Baer Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $5,950,000. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% during the first quarter. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC now owns 11,062 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,181,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Finally, Canal Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the first quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 50,501 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,522,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $1.71 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $357.18. 18,122,822 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 32,870,564. The company has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $372.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $336.44. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.48 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.92.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp raised its price target on Alphabet to $445 from $425 and kept an overweight rating, reinforcing the view that the stock still has meaningful upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple upbeat articles highlighted Alphabet as a leading AI and cloud beneficiary, with commentary pointing to strong distribution through Search, Android, YouTube, Google Cloud, and chips as reasons it could monetize AI better than peers.
• Positive Sentiment: New coverage argued Alphabet looks undervalued after a big run over the past year, while other pieces said the company remains one of the most attractive megacap tech names on a risk/reward basis.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other market commentators continued to include GOOGL among cloud and internet stocks positioned to benefit from AI-driven data center spending and digital demand growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Business and tech commentary also pointed to product and platform strengths, including Google Search setting records during the World Cup and Waymo planning more driverless-car expansion, which support the long-term growth narrative.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet said it will begin disclosing which ads are generated with AI, a transparency move that may help trust and compliance but is unlikely to materially change near-term earnings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Britain moved to regulate Google as a critical cloud supplier to protect financial stability; the change adds oversight, but it also underscores the importance of Google Cloud rather than signaling a fundamental business setback.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported that Google is appealing an Indian ads-related trademark ruling, a legal issue that could create some noise but does not yet appear to be a major stock-moving event.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short-interest data was effectively flat at zero shares reported, offering little actionable signal for traders.
• Negative Sentiment: One Reuters-linked report said Google and OpenAI provided AI services to Singapore-based subsidiaries of Chinese groups on the Pentagon blacklist, which could raise regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical commentary noted Alphabet is testing a key resistance zone after a recovery, suggesting the stock may need a fresh catalyst to extend its move higher.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.