Rathbones Group PLC Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Rathbones Group PLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,165,091 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 127,004 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 4.7% of Rathbones Group PLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,197,710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $277,696,000 after purchasing an additional 93,293 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% in the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares during the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,902,000. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 118,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,236,000 after buying an additional 17,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLCM Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 66.1% during the 4th quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 22,877 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,161,000 after buying an additional 9,105 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $354.30 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $355.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $340.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.60 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.80, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is 4.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. CICC Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. DZ Bank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $419.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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 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.