SFE Investment Counsel Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

SFE Investment Counsel decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,683 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.1% of SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Symmetry Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the first quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $730,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Members Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,014,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,489,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corus Family Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the first quarter. Corus Family Wealth Advisors now owns 2,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $601,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly developed a new AI server chip, “Frozen v2,” to make Gemini run more efficiently, which could improve margins and help ease compute constraints for Google Cloud. Reuters: Google plans new chip to run Gemini models more efficiently
• Positive Sentiment: Google released new Gemini models, including cheaper and more efficient versions, signaling continued AI product momentum ahead of earnings. TechCrunch: Google releases three new Gemini models
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary remain constructive on Alphabet going into Q2 results, with expectations that Search and Google Cloud can still deliver strong growth. Yahoo Finance: Alphabet Q2 Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s earnings report on Wednesday is expected to be a major market test for AI spending, cloud growth, and capital expenditure discipline. Invezz: What to expect from Alphabet’s Q2 earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is also facing a cluster of securities-fraud investigation headlines, though these are largely legal overhangs at this stage rather than new operational news. PR Newswire: Securities fraud investigation continues
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that a flagship Gemini model remains delayed, adding to investor worries that heavy AI spending may not translate into results quickly enough. Reuters: Alphabet’s Gemini delay, spending worries loom over earnings

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $347.15 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $367.35 and its 200 day moving average is $338.65. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.46 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Freedom Capital downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $414.54.

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.