Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Has $40.15 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 139,628 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 31,488 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 3.0% of Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $40,152,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,625,595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after buying an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 over the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. China Renaissance boosted their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Arete Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $438.00 target price (up from $416.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $414.54.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates by a wide margin, signaling strong underlying business momentum. Alphabet (GOOGL) Beats Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud’s 82% growth suggests Alphabet’s AI spending is translating into faster cloud demand and improving monetization. Google quarterly cloud revenue growth beats expectations
• Positive Sentiment: YouTube ad revenue growth and strength across search and advertising add evidence that core businesses are still healthy. YouTube Ad Revenue Rises 13% In Q2 To Surpass $11 Billion, Helping To Drive Strong Report By Parent Alphabet

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $342.09 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $366.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $338.86. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.82 and a 12 month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $6.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

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.