Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stock Holdings Cut by Momentum Wealth Planning LLC

Momentum Wealth Planning LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,496 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,033 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 4.5% of Momentum Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Momentum Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $132,114,125,000 after acquiring an additional 8,128,234 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,712,878,000 after acquiring an additional 953,790 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 38,409.2% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,643,262,000 after purchasing an additional 179,369,280 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,174,429,000 after purchasing an additional 111,699,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,569,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,151 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates, driven by strong search, ads, and especially Google Cloud growth. S&P 500, Nasdaq close lower ahead of technology earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud growth accelerated sharply on AI demand, reinforcing the case that Alphabet’s AI investments are translating into revenue. Google quarterly cloud revenue growth beats expectations
• Positive Sentiment: YouTube ad revenue rose 13%, adding another sign that Alphabet’s core advertising business remains resilient. YouTube Ad Revenue Rises 13% In Q2 To Surpass $11 Billion
• Positive Sentiment: Google said Gemini has reached 950 million monthly active users, suggesting improving traction in consumer AI. Google’s Gemini app nips at ChatGPT’s heels as it nears 1 billion users

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. UBS Group set a $430.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Freedom Capital lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $386.88.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2%

GOOG opened at $341.91 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $363.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $337.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $188.70 and a 1-year high of $404.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $6.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.