Abrams Capital Management L.P. Sells 50,862 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Abrams Capital Management reduced its Alphabet stake by 2.7%, selling 50,862 shares during the first quarter. It still held 1.87 million shares worth approximately $536.5 million, representing 11.6% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $9.11 per share versus the $2.89 consensus estimate and revenue of $119.8 billion. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $419.86.
• Alphabet shares opened at $373.51 after rising 4.9%; investors remain focused on the company’s AI and cloud growth, while weighing heavy AI-related capital expenditures and competitive pressure from Microsoft in cloud services.

Abrams Capital Management L.P. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,865,768 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 50,862 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 11.6% of Abrams Capital Management L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Abrams Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $536,520,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings and analyst support: Alphabet’s latest results significantly exceeded consensus expectations, reinforcing confidence in accelerating revenue and profit growth. Multiple reports describe the stock as undervalued or a favorable growth investment, while analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating. Alphabet Stock is Climbing: What's Going On Today?
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure positioning: Commentary argues Alphabet is better equipped than many peers to absorb the cost of Nvidia chips while benefiting from expanding AI demand. Investors also see Google Search, cloud services, and AI infrastructure as complementary growth engines. Berkshire Hathaway’s reported investment in Alphabet adds to the bullish narrative. The Nvidia Tax: Alphabet Mitigates It Better
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo validation: An analysis reported that Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxis crash substantially less often than human-driven vehicles. While Waymo is not yet a major earnings contributor, the finding supports Alphabet’s long-term autonomous-driving and technology portfolio. Waymo robotaxis found to crash 68% less often
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial AI momentum: Google’s partnership with Paris Saint-Germain and participation in upcoming White House AI-regulation discussions highlight expanding enterprise and institutional interest in its AI capabilities. Paris Saint-Germain partners with Google on AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s lead in cloud market share remains a competitive concern, although Alphabet’s Google Cloud continues to grow and benefits from the same AI spending cycle. Microsoft Races Ahead of Google in the Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are weighing whether heavy AI capital expenditures will temporarily pressure margins or create durable long-term returns.
• Negative Sentiment: A Google Earth tool reportedly made it possible to create AI-generated fake satellite imagery, raising questions about safeguards, misinformation, and potential regulatory scrutiny. For a Day, Google Made It Easy to Spoof Satellite Imagery

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the business'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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total value of $2,232,808.20. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. President Capital boosted their price target on Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating and issued a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $373.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.12 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $357.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $339.62.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.42%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source