ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 16,742 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 211.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 24,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.3% of ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the first quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 24,048 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,915,000 after buying an additional 1,125 shares during the period. Kaizen Financial Strategies lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the first quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 11,455 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,294,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.4% in the first quarter. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. now owns 925 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Alphabet by 30.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,013,281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,619,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glass Wealth Management Co LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 44,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. China Renaissance lifted their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 16th. CICC Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $414.54.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $347.15 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $187.46 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.24. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $367.35 and a 200 day moving average of $338.65.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly developed a new AI server chip, “Frozen v2,” to make Gemini run more efficiently, which could improve margins and help ease compute constraints for Google Cloud. Reuters: Google plans new chip to run Gemini models more efficiently
• Positive Sentiment: Google released new Gemini models, including cheaper and more efficient versions, signaling continued AI product momentum ahead of earnings. TechCrunch: Google releases three new Gemini models
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary remain constructive on Alphabet going into Q2 results, with expectations that Search and Google Cloud can still deliver strong growth. Yahoo Finance: Alphabet Q2 Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s earnings report on Wednesday is expected to be a major market test for AI spending, cloud growth, and capital expenditure discipline. Invezz: What to expect from Alphabet’s Q2 earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is also facing a cluster of securities-fraud investigation headlines, though these are largely legal overhangs at this stage rather than new operational news. PR Newswire: Securities fraud investigation continues
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that a flagship Gemini model remains delayed, adding to investor worries that heavy AI spending may not translate into results quickly enough. Reuters: Alphabet’s Gemini delay, spending worries loom over earnings

Alphabet Company 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.