626 Financial LLC Sells 3,384 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

626 Financial LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,528 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,384 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 3.0% of 626 Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. 626 Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $277,696,000 after purchasing an additional 93,293 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $86,000,000 after purchasing an additional 23,107 shares in the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,902,000. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,678 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is drawing bullish sentiment from investors and analysts as a top AI name, with one report highlighting billionaire Jeffrey Talpins’ view that GOOGL is among the best AI stocks to own.
• Positive Sentiment: Google-backed Proxima Fusion raised €411 million in a major financing round, underscoring Alphabet’s continued involvement in frontier energy and AI-adjacent innovation. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage focused on Google Cloud suggests the segment is increasingly seen as a key growth engine for Alphabet, reinforcing the market’s confidence in its AI and cloud strategy. Trefis article
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to be highlighted in “final trades” and stock-picking segments, which can support near-term sentiment by keeping the name in focus for traders. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet announced its Made by Google Pixel event for August 12, which keeps hardware and consumer-device expectations in view but is not a major immediate catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Articles comparing Alphabet with Palantir and Taiwan Semiconductor mostly frame GOOGL as a benchmark AI and cloud leader rather than signaling a direct new catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: TechCrunch reported that Google is expanding AI training to include more user-uploaded media by default unless users opt out, which could revive privacy concerns and regulatory scrutiny. TechCrunch article
• Negative Sentiment: BusinessInsider noted that Waymo faces growing competition in robotaxi usage from Zoox, reminding investors that Alphabet’s autonomous-driving efforts still face competitive pressure. BusinessInsider article

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents 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 have sold 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $430.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.54.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $367.03 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $372.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $335.51. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $172.77 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.