66,567 Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Acquired by Independent Financial Group LLC

Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 66,567 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,095,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.6% of Independent Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 29,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,381,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341 shares during the last quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 275,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $86,596,000 after acquiring an additional 2,850 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 60,739 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,060,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors grew its position in Alphabet by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 190,654 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $59,827,000 after acquiring an additional 15,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Violich Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 340,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $106,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,378 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $346.12 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $366.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $336.81. The company has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $184.73 and a 12-month high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.81 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Freedom Capital cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wedbush started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $445.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group set a $430.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $416.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $383.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.