Independent Financial Group LLC Makes New $19.09 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 66,567 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,095,000. Alphabet accounts for about 0.6% of Independent Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 29,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,381,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341 shares during the last quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 275,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 60,739 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,060,000 after purchasing an additional 4,239 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 190,654 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $59,827,000 after purchasing an additional 15,280 shares during the period. Finally, Violich Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 340,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $106,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,378 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $346.12 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $366.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $336.81. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $184.73 and a 52 week high of $404.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.81 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 6.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group set a $430.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.44.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.