Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Baxter Bros Inc.

Baxter Bros Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 93,158 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,337 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 3.3% of Baxter Bros Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Baxter Bros Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Symmetry Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Members Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,014,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Insight 2811 Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $370.92 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $180.48 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The firm has a market cap of $4.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50 day moving average is $370.84 and its 200-day moving average is $337.62.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Warren Buffett said he initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s Alphabet investment, a high-profile endorsement that is helping sentiment around Alphabet (GOOGL). Warren Buffett tells CNBC he initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst previews say Alphabet’s AI momentum, cloud backlog, and earnings growth expectations could support another strong quarter, keeping investors upbeat ahead of results. Alphabet’s AI Spending Question Looms Over Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Alphabet to strong-buy, citing earnings growth expectations and attractive fundamentals relative to its valuation. Zacks upgrade to strong-buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet expanded its clean-energy commitments with its largest solar and battery storage purchase yet, which supports its long-term infrastructure strategy but is not an immediate earnings driver. Google’s biggest clean power project is 40 miles north of xAI’s unpermitted gas power plant
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also drew attention for a new collaboration with INVIDI Technologies to extend addressable advertising to set-top boxes, a potentially helpful ad-tech expansion but still early-stage. INVIDI Technologies Collaborates with Google to Integrate Google Ad Manager
• Negative Sentiment: The European Commission is preparing new fines against Google, renewing regulatory risk and adding pressure to Alphabet’s legal overhang. EU Prepares to Fine Google as Part of Increased Big Tech Enforcement
• Negative Sentiment: Google is also fighting antitrust scrutiny in Europe and Switzerland, including efforts to preserve a court ruling that overturned a $1.7 billion EU fine and a new Swiss probe over Android search defaults. Google urges EU top court to back ruling scrapping $1.7 billion antitrust fine
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reports raised concerns about Google’s AI search tools and a DeepMind researcher’s resignation over the company’s Pentagon work, both of which could add reputational risk. A DeepMind researcher resigned over its AI military deal

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore increased their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. CICC Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Phillip Securities increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.73.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Profile

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.