Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 238,130 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 28,136 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.8% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kaizen Financial Strategies raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% in the first quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 11,455 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,294,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. now owns 925 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 30.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,013,281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,441,619,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,514 shares during the period. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 44,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 29,087 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,364,000 after acquiring an additional 5,628 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased 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. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (down from $410.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $414.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the sale, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $347.15 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $367.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $338.65. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.46 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Research analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $0.22 per share. 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.71%.

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.