First Nebraska Trust Co Invests $41.48 Million in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

First Nebraska Trust Co purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 144,261 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $41,484,000. Alphabet makes up 3.8% of First Nebraska Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% during the first quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,570,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% during the first quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Professional Planners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the first quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 2,364 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $680,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $460.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. DA Davidson set a $350.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, July 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the firm’s 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 owned 18,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $2,232,808.20. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $354.30 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $196.60 and a one year high of $408.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $355.68 and its 200 day moving average is $340.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

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

Alphabet Company 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.