Westshore Wealth LLC Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Westshore Wealth LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 27.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,694 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,122 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.6% of Westshore Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Westshore Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co boosted its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue reportedly increased 82% in the second quarter, with backlog reaching $514 billion, while the Gemini app reached approximately 950 million monthly active users. The results reinforce the commercial demand supporting Alphabet’s AI and cloud investments. Google’s AI business is booming, so why are DeepMind’s biggest names quitting?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to highlight Alphabet’s strong cash generation, balance sheet and valuation relative to its growth prospects. Some market models see the shares reaching $400 as Cloud momentum and AI monetization continue. Price Prediction: Google Will Hit $400 on This Date
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s expanded Google Cloud partnership with AI lab Mirendil, reportedly worth more than $100 million over multiple years, provides another example of demand for its computing infrastructure. Mirendil Google Cloud deal

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $445.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, CICC Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 18,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,305,738.46. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $354.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.80, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.60 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $355.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $340.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

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.