Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 709,974 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 20,923 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.9% of iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $204,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $277,696,000 after acquiring an additional 93,293 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,000,000 after acquiring an additional 23,107 shares in the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,902,000. Finally, Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,338,397,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’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 value of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Waymo plans to expand driverless rides to four more major cities this year, with a phased rollout that could broaden Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle opportunity and reinforce its leadership in robotaxis. Waymo Plans to Expand Driverless Cars to 4 More Major Cities This Year
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to be highlighted as a beneficiary of massive AI infrastructure spending, with analysts pointing to strong demand for cloud expansion, data centers, and AI hardware. 3 Top-Ranked Stocks Riding on Massive AI Infrastructure Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet was cited as an indirect way to gain exposure to Anthropic ahead of a possible IPO, since the company already holds a major private stake in the AI startup. Want Anthropic Exposure Before the IPO? These 2 AI Giants Are Already There (GOOGL)
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly added a $10 billion private placement investment in Alphabet, a sign of institutional confidence that could support sentiment in the stock. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Successor, Greg Abel, Just Bought More of This Magnificent Tech Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Cognizant deepened its Google Cloud partnership to accelerate enterprise AI adoption, which underscores Alphabet’s cloud relevance but is not a direct financial catalyst by itself. Cognizant Strengthens AI Portfolio Through Google Cloud Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s upcoming Pixel launch event on August 12 keeps hardware in view, but this is more of a product-calendar reminder than an immediate stock-moving catalyst. Google’s Pixel event is set for August 12
• Negative Sentiment: Google updated the Chrome Web Store to ban prediction market transactions, a policy move that may be seen as restrictive and could attract backlash from affected users and developers. Google Bans Prediction Market Transactions Amid Backlash
• Negative Sentiment: One article noted Alphabet shares were already slipping versus the broader market, adding to the intraday weakness as traders weigh valuation and AI competition concerns. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $361.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company has a market capitalization of $4.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $372.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $335.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $172.77 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.54.

About Alphabet

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.