Groupe la Francaise Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Groupe la Francaise boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 15.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 742,821 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100,672 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 2.9% of Groupe la Francaise’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $211,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Cadia Private Client LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 11,701 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,365,000 after buying an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. January Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $550,000. Union Heritage Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 184.3% in the first quarter. Union Heritage Capital LLC now owns 22,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,476,000 after acquiring an additional 14,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 2.1% during the first quarter. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC now owns 4,887 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $354.30 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $355.68 and a 200 day moving average of $340.41. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.80, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.60 and a 52-week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue reportedly increased 82% in the second quarter, with backlog reaching $514 billion, while the Gemini app reached approximately 950 million monthly active users. The results reinforce the commercial demand supporting Alphabet’s AI and cloud investments. Google’s AI business is booming, so why are DeepMind’s biggest names quitting?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to highlight Alphabet’s strong cash generation, balance sheet and valuation relative to its growth prospects. Some market models see the shares reaching $400 as Cloud momentum and AI monetization continue. Price Prediction: Google Will Hit $400 on This Date
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s expanded Google Cloud partnership with AI lab Mirendil, reportedly worth more than $100 million over multiple years, provides another example of demand for its computing infrastructure. Mirendil Google Cloud deal

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Pivotal Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 price target (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Company 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.