Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Acorn Financial Advisory Services cut its Alphabet stake by 52.4% in the first quarter, leaving it with 6,544 shares valued at about $1.88 million.
• Despite that trim, Alphabet continues to draw significant institutional interest, with major holders like Vanguard, Berkshire Hathaway, and Norges Bank holding or adding large positions in the stock.
• The article highlights several bullish catalysts for Alphabet, including Waymo’s planned expansion into more cities, ongoing AI infrastructure spending, and strong analyst sentiment with a Moderate Buy consensus and average price target of $413.54.

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 52.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,544 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,206 shares during the quarter. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,534,239,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $4,338,397,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,546,413,000 after acquiring an additional 13,004,828 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Waymo plans to expand driverless rides to four more major cities this year, with a phased rollout that could broaden Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle opportunity and reinforce its leadership in robotaxis. Waymo Plans to Expand Driverless Cars to 4 More Major Cities This Year
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to be highlighted as a beneficiary of massive AI infrastructure spending, with analysts pointing to strong demand for cloud expansion, data centers, and AI hardware. 3 Top-Ranked Stocks Riding on Massive AI Infrastructure Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet was cited as an indirect way to gain exposure to Anthropic ahead of a possible IPO, since the company already holds a major private stake in the AI startup. Want Anthropic Exposure Before the IPO? These 2 AI Giants Are Already There (GOOGL)
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly added a $10 billion private placement investment in Alphabet, a sign of institutional confidence that could support sentiment in the stock. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Successor, Greg Abel, Just Bought More of This Magnificent Tech Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Cognizant deepened its Google Cloud partnership to accelerate enterprise AI adoption, which underscores Alphabet’s cloud relevance but is not a direct financial catalyst by itself. Cognizant Strengthens AI Portfolio Through Google Cloud Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s upcoming Pixel launch event on August 12 keeps hardware in view, but this is more of a product-calendar reminder than an immediate stock-moving catalyst. Google's Pixel event is set for August 12
• Negative Sentiment: Google updated the Chrome Web Store to ban prediction market transactions, a policy move that may be seen as restrictive and could attract backlash from affected users and developers. Google Bans Prediction Market Transactions Amid Backlash
• Negative Sentiment: One article noted Alphabet shares were already slipping versus the broader market, adding to the intraday weakness as traders weigh valuation and AI competition concerns. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Freedom Capital cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.54.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $361.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $172.77 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $372.28 and a 200-day moving average of $335.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.

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