Giverny Capital Inc. Sells 15,449 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Giverny Capital Inc. cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 605,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 15,449 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 7.3% of Giverny Capital Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Giverny Capital Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $213,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,508 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the first quarter. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,390,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,223 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $785,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. now owns 1,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Enhancement Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $330.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $345.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $341.69. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $236.58 and a 12 month high of $404.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet announced a partnership with Morgan State University to establish an AI campus, potentially expanding long-term talent development, research access and adoption of Google Cloud and Gemini. Alphabet Morgan State University AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched a dedicated Gemini app for Windows PCs, making its AI assistant more accessible and increasing the opportunity to drive usage across consumer devices and services. Gemini Windows app
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned €13 billion investment in Finnish AI infrastructure, alongside a long-term agreement to purchase power from a nuclear plant, could provide reliable, lower-cost electricity for data centers and support Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube. Google Finland AI infrastructure investment
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investment commentary continue to highlight Alphabet’s cloud growth, more than 20% revenue growth and strong recent earnings as evidence that the company can fund substantial AI investment while maintaining attractive profitability. Alphabet return on invested capital and cloud growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest was listed at zero shares, unchanged from the prior report, so the data provide no meaningful evidence of short-covering pressure or growing bearish positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on the cost of Alphabet’s AI buildout. Estimates that AI capital expenditures could reach roughly $200 billion have raised concerns about pressure on free cash flow, even though the stock’s valuation is viewed as reasonable. Alphabet AI capital expenditures
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s new Muse AI agent has renewed concerns that autonomous assistants could bypass traditional search pages and reduce Google search advertising opportunities. ARK Invest’s decision to sell approximately $28 million of Alphabet and buy Meta added to the competitive sentiment. Meta Muse competition
• Negative Sentiment: Potential regulation could increase infrastructure costs: proposed U.S. legislation would require large data-center users to pay the full incremental cost of power-grid upgrades, while Finnish officials have warned that Google’s expansion could strain electricity supply. Data Center Fair Share Act

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Roth Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 price objective (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, July 17th. HSBC set a $515.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.55.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $2,232,808.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known as the parent company of Google. It was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring intended to separate Google’s core internet businesses from a collection of other ventures. Google remains Alphabet’s largest business and serves users, advertisers, businesses and developers worldwide.

Google’s principal products and services include its internet search engine, online advertising platforms, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Photos.