Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) by 60.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,274 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,430 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.1% of Halter Ferguson Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $445.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. CICC Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $420.19.
Alphabet Trading Down 1.2%
Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $340.67 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.11, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $199.43 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $352.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $341.34.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total transaction of $27,337.98. Following the sale, the director owned 18,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 451,945 shares of company stock worth $12,382,714 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.
Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Analyst remains bullish: Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its “buy” rating and set a $410 price target, implying substantial upside from the recent trading level. Analyst Scott Devitt also expects Alphabet to reach a new all-time high over the next 12 months. Rosenblatt rating
- Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure and cloud growth remain key positives: Google Cloud reportedly grew revenue 82% year over year in the latest quarter, while Alphabet’s partnership with Marvell expands access to custom AI accelerators, networking, storage, and memory technologies connected to Google’s TPU ecosystem. The deal could improve supply-chain flexibility and support long-term AI capacity. Marvell Google AI chip deal
- Positive Sentiment: Waymo is expanding commercially: Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit opened its lower-cost next-generation robotaxi to all riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco, potentially improving the economics and scalability of the business. Waymo robotaxi expansion
- Neutral Sentiment: Google introduced a “favorite source” feature that lets users prioritize publishers in Search, Discover, and Google News. The move may help preserve publisher relationships and search content quality, but its effect on revenue is uncertain. Google publisher feature
- Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is reportedly raising approximately $3.9 billion through its first Australian-dollar bond sale. The financing could support AI infrastructure investment, though it also underscores the capital intensity of the company’s expansion plans. Alphabet Australian dollar bond
- Negative Sentiment: Custom-chip competition is increasing: Marvell’s agreement and potential $12.2 billion warrant give Google an incentive to direct more purchases toward Marvell, raising concerns that Broadcom’s previously dominant role in Google’s TPU ecosystem could be diluted. While diversification may benefit Google over time, investors may view the deal as evidence that AI spending will require heavier investment and a more complex supply chain.
- Negative Sentiment: Legal and execution risks remain: A court delayed approval of Google’s proposed purchase of Spirit Airlines’ internal data after union objections, while Micro1 is offering more than Google’s reported $10 million bid. Separately, the departure of longtime AI leader Jeff Dean and expectations that the flagship Gemini Pro release may be delayed into the autumn add to investor uncertainty. Spirit Airlines data sale delay
- Negative Sentiment: A law firm announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of Alphabet investors, creating an additional headline risk, although no allegations or financial impact were established in the announcement. Alphabet investor investigation
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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