Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) by 19.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 17,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,927 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,534,239,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,546,413,000 after buying an additional 13,004,828 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28,950.0% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,291,926 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,671,986,000 after buying an additional 9,259,940 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Alphabet Price Performance
Shares of GOOGL opened at $343.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $354.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $340.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.60 and a 1-year high of $408.61.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price target (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Six research 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, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $419.86.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Alphabet
Key Stories Impacting Alphabet
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Google’s Gemini app surpassed 1 billion monthly active users, marking a major distribution milestone that could strengthen Alphabet’s AI ecosystem, user engagement and monetization potential. Google’s Gemini app surges to one billion users
- Positive Sentiment: Ryanair signed a five-year Google Cloud agreement to deploy Gemini and DeepMind models for crew scheduling and operational decisions, providing evidence of enterprise demand for Alphabet’s AI and cloud offerings. Ryanair signs five-year Google Cloud deal
- Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s increased AI investment continues to attract investor interest, with analysts highlighting the company’s momentum and potential beneficiaries of its planned data-center spending. However, the scale of investment remains a key debate. Alphabet’s Higher AI Spending Could Boost These ETFs
- Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s earnings influence on broader S&P 500 growth underscores its importance to market performance, but it also makes the stock more sensitive to shifts in technology-sector sentiment and portfolio positioning. Tech Stocks Have Stumbled
- Negative Sentiment: Alphabet remains exposed to more than 3,000 youth-addiction lawsuits alleging that social-media platforms were designed to harm young users. The litigation could create financial liability and increase regulatory pressure. Social media platforms still facing thousands of user addiction lawsuits
- Negative Sentiment: A French newspaper group asked regulators to investigate Google’s AI-generated search summaries, arguing they divert traffic from publishers. Similar disputes could raise compliance costs and threaten parts of Google’s search economics. French media asks French anti-trust watchdog to act on Google’s AI
- Negative Sentiment: AI data centers face significant power and infrastructure constraints, adding execution risk to Alphabet’s large capital-spending plans and raising questions about returns on AI investment. AI’s Next Bottleneck Isn’t Chips, It’s Power Infrastructure
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.
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