Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 41,530 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after acquiring an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,712,878,000 after purchasing an additional 953,790 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 38,409.2% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,643,262,000 after purchasing an additional 179,369,280 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,174,429,000 after purchasing an additional 111,699,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,569,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,151 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $346.12 on Friday. 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’s 50 day moving average is $366.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $336.65. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $184.73 and a twelve month high of $404.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.81 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 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 given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $445.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group set a $430.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp set a $445.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $383.44.

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.

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.