Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 60,505 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Allspring Global Investments reduced its Alphabet stake by 2.8% in the first quarter, selling 60,505 shares and leaving it with 2,106,169 shares valued at about $621.1 million.
• Insider selling has also picked up, with corporate insiders selling 159,415 shares worth $7.67 million over the last 90 days.
• Alphabet’s fundamentals and outlook remain strong: the company beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates, raised its quarterly dividend, and analysts currently maintain an average Buy rating with a $383.44 price target.

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,106,169 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 60,505 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.0% of Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $621,109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,508 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 3,554 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. now owns 1,589 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $499,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HRC Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. HRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,014,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Zacks Research raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. KeyCorp set a $445.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Freedom Capital lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $383.44.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $346.12 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $184.73 and a 52-week high of $404.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The business has a fifty day moving average of $366.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $336.81. The stock has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.81 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

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.

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