Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its Alphabet stake by 6.1% in the first quarter, making GOOGL its second-largest holding at about 4.2% of the portfolio.
• Alphabet reported strong Q2 results, with EPS of $9.11 and revenue of $119.8 billion, both beating analyst estimates by a wide margin.
• Recent commentary points to continued strength in Alphabet’s core businesses, including Google Cloud’s 82% growth and solid YouTube ad revenue, while analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target price of $414.54.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 859,424 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 49,168 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 4.2% of J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Alphabet were worth $246,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $277,696,000 after purchasing an additional 93,293 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 2.6% in the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors raised its position in Alphabet by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $86,000,000 after purchasing an additional 23,107 shares during the period. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $28,902,000. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,678 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates by a wide margin, signaling strong underlying business momentum. Alphabet (GOOGL) Beats Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud’s 82% growth suggests Alphabet’s AI spending is translating into faster cloud demand and improving monetization. Google quarterly cloud revenue growth beats expectations
• Positive Sentiment: YouTube ad revenue growth and strength across search and advertising add evidence that core businesses are still healthy. YouTube Ad Revenue Rises 13% In Q2 To Surpass $11 Billion, Helping To Drive Strong Report By Parent Alphabet

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Dbs Bank lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $400.00 target price (down from $410.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $515.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $414.54.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $342.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.09, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.24. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $366.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $338.86. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $187.82 and a 12-month high of $408.61. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $6.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $117.07 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

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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