Foster Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Foster Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 30,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,382 shares during the quarter. Foster Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co lifted its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Gemini app has surpassed 1 billion monthly active users, strengthening the case that the company’s AI investments are gaining broad consumer adoption. Google’s Gemini app surges to one billion users
• Positive Sentiment: Ryanair signed a five-year Google Cloud agreement to deploy Gemini, DeepMind and Workspace tools across its 35,000 employees, providing another example of enterprise AI monetization. Ryanair signs five-year Google Cloud deal
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Alphabet as an attractive AI and cloud investment, citing strong Google Cloud margins and valuation support following its strong second-quarter results. Google Cloud margins supported Alphabet’s stock
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet unveiled Pixel 11 phones, the Pixel Watch 5, a $29 Pixel Tag and additional Gemini features, expanding its hardware ecosystem and opportunities to distribute AI services. Google unveils Pixel 11 lineup and Gemini features

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. DZ Bank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Truist Financial set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total value of $27,337.98. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 540,470 shares of company stock valued at $14,873,168. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $343.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $354.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $340.94. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.60 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

About Alphabet

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.