Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Holdings Trimmed by KCM Investment Advisors LLC

Key Points

• KCM Investment Advisors reduced its Alphabet stake by 0.8% in the first quarter, selling 2,077 shares while retaining 270,345 shares valued at approximately $77.7 million. Alphabet remains the firm’s fifth-largest portfolio holding.
• Institutional investors collectively own about 40.03% of Alphabet, with major firms including Norges Bank, Vanguard and Capital World Investors increasing their positions.
• Analysts remain bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $419.86. Alphabet also reported quarterly revenue of $119.8 billion and EPS of $9.11, substantially exceeding expectations.

KCM Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 270,345 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,077 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.6% of KCM Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. KCM Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $77,740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,534,239,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,546,413,000 after purchasing an additional 13,004,828 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 28,950.0% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,291,926 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,671,986,000 after purchasing an additional 9,259,940 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Freedom Capital raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $419.86.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google is reportedly discussing a potential deal valued at more than $1.5 billion with AI coding-agent startup Mechanize. The arrangement could provide access to specialized talent and technology in a rapidly expanding AI application market. Google is in talks for a $1.5 billion-plus deal with AI coding agent startup Mechanize
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to benefit from strong fundamentals and AI-related growth opportunities, including its cloud business, advertising franchise and direct sales of custom Tensor Processing Units. Analysts remain broadly optimistic about the stock’s long-term growth prospects. Is Alphabet a Solid Growth Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet-owned Waymo opened its Dallas robotaxi service to all residents and visitors, supporting the company’s effort to scale autonomous-driving operations. Waymo opens up robotaxi service in Dallas to everyone
• Neutral Sentiment: Demis Hassabis is moving from leading Google DeepMind into an Alphabet chief scientist role focused on long-term research and AI safety. Management described the move as a leadership realignment, but investors are weighing whether it could disrupt near-term product execution. Google shakes up AI leadership as DeepMind chief shifts role
• Negative Sentiment: Longtime chief scientist Jeff Dean and three other senior AI researchers are leaving Google to launch Discovery Loop, an AI startup focused on automated research and drug design. The departures intensify concerns over the loss of influential technical talent during the AI race. Google chief scientist Jeff Dean leaving in AI reshuffle
• Negative Sentiment: The leadership overhaul comes while Google’s latest flagship Gemini release remains delayed, increasing investor anxiety about product momentum and competitive positioning. Why is Alphabet stock falling?
• Negative Sentiment: A U.K. tribunal allowed a roughly $6.7 billion advertiser class action to proceed, adding to Alphabet’s regulatory and legal exposure in its search and advertising businesses. UK Tribunal Rejects Google Bid to Block Advertiser Class Action

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $362.43 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.67 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $356.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $340.12.

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. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 4.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 in the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is 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.

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.

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