Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 22,065 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 133,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 22,065 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.3% of Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google is reportedly building a custom AI server chip, “Frozen v2,” to run Gemini more efficiently and reduce compute costs, which could improve long-term margins and support cloud growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet released new Gemini model variants, including cheaper and cybersecurity-focused versions, signaling continued AI product progress ahead of earnings.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive into earnings, with expectations for strong revenue growth and continued strength in Search and Google Cloud.
• Neutral Sentiment: Options traders are pricing in a meaningful post-earnings move, suggesting the stock could react sharply to Wednesday’s results either way.
• Neutral Sentiment: Senator Jerry Moran disclosed a purchase of GOOG shares, a modest signal of insider confidence but not a major market-moving catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about Alphabet’s large AI and data-center spending, and the delayed Gemini Pro launch is adding to questions about execution and AI payoff.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing securities-fraud investigations create additional headline risk and may weigh on sentiment ahead of earnings.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.44.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5%

Alphabet stock opened at $346.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $188.49 and a 52-week high of $404.47. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $364.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $337.29. The firm has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.41, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.23.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.81 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost 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%.

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.