Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Bought by HB Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• HB Wealth Management LLC increased its Alphabet stake by 1.9% in the first quarter, buying 6,391 more shares and bringing its total to 346,079 shares worth about $99.3 million.
• Alphabet reported a strong latest quarter, with EPS of $5.11 beating estimates and revenue of $109.9 billion also topping expectations, while quarterly revenue rose 21.8% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21, though the yield remains low at 0.2% and insider selling has continued over the past 90 days.

HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 346,079 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 6,391 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.6% of HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $99,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in Alphabet by 38,409.2% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,643,262,000 after acquiring an additional 179,369,280 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $35,174,429,000 after acquiring an additional 111,699,704 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 850.3% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,551,938,000 after purchasing an additional 15,830,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $363.62 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $369.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $334.35. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $173.88 and a 52 week high of $404.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.81 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $416.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $376.19.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street is looking for another strong earnings report from Alphabet, with AI and Google Cloud expected to keep driving growth ahead of the company’s upcoming results. Alphabet Q2 Earnings Preview: What To Expect From Upcoming Report
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google unit joined a €411 million funding round for Proxima Fusion, reinforcing its interest in frontier energy and other long-duration AI-adjacent opportunities. Google, RWE back Proxima Fusion in €411 million financing round
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlighting Alphabet as a potential “forever holding” for Berkshire-style investors may be helping reinforce the stock’s long-term AI and cash-flow appeal. Prediction: This Magnificent Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Will Become Berkshire's Next Forever Holding
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet announced that its Made by Google Pixel event will be held on August 12, which could build anticipation for new hardware updates but is not a major fundamental catalyst by itself. Google's Pixel event is set for August 12
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary comparing Alphabet with Palantir and Taiwan Semiconductor keeps Alphabet in the center of AI-stock debates, but these are mostly valuation and relative-performance discussions rather than direct business news. Palantir Vs. Google: Why Palantir is Surging in July and Should Investors Buy it Over Google?
• Negative Sentiment: TechCrunch reported that Google is expanding AI training to include more user-uploaded media, which could raise fresh privacy concerns and fuel scrutiny over how customer data is used. If you use Google, you're training its AI. Here's how to opt out.
• Negative Sentiment: Business Insider noted that Google’s status as a top tech employer is becoming less certain as AI-linked salary competition pushes some talent elsewhere, which could add pressure to retention. Google's status as the dream tech job is changing. FOMO over AI salaries is only one reason why.

Alphabet 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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