Next Century Growth Investors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Next Century Growth Investors LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,294 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,916 shares during the period. Next Century Growth Investors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its holdings in Alphabet by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 191,966 shares of company stock worth $16,963,968 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google’s legal action against an AI-enabled scam network highlights Alphabet’s role in fighting online fraud and may strengthen trust in its security ecosystem. AI Scam Surge Prompts Google to File Lawsuit
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to point to Alphabet as a key AI winner, with Gemini, cloud spending, and enterprise demand seen as long-term growth drivers. 3 AI Stocks Poised for Long-Term Gains Despite Strong Year-to-Date Performance
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s increased stake in Alphabet adds a high-profile endorsement and suggests long-term confidence in the stock’s AI and platform value. Berkshire Hathaway’s Greg Abel Just Made a Big Bet on Who Will Win the AI Races

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $369.35 on Tuesday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $361.93 and a 200 day moving average of $330.66. The firm has a market cap of $4.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.