NWF Advisory Services Inc. Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

NWF Advisory Services Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 80,103 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,639 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.6% of NWF Advisory Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. NWF Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 76.2% in the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,865,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $330,886,000 after purchasing an additional 806,681 shares during the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $658,000. Financial Advisors Network Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the second quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 7,945 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% during the second quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 37,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,618,000 after purchasing an additional 3,616 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $346.12 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $366.29 and its 200 day moving average is $336.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company has a market capitalization of $4.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $184.73 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change 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%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Alphabet News Summary

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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. KeyCorp set a $445.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Zacks Research upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group set a $430.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.44.

Alphabet Company 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.