NewEdge Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

NewEdge Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,289,339 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 126,473 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.3% of NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $370,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Caerus Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.6% during the first quarter. Caerus Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,715 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,504 shares during the last quarter. First Nebraska Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $41,484,000. Foguth Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Foguth Wealth Management LLC. now owns 5,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,522,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. Financial Solutions Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $614,000. Finally, Dala Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $11,717,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total value of $2,232,808.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $393.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $354.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.60 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $355.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $340.41. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.80, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Alphabet News Roundup

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

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.