Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Position Reduced by Sapient Capital LLC

Key Points

• Sapient Capital reduced its Alphabet position by 25.1% in the first quarter, selling 210,242 shares and retaining 627,201 shares valued at approximately $180.3 million.
• Other major institutions, including Vanguard, State Street, Geode Capital and Bank of America, increased their Alphabet holdings; institutional investors collectively own about 40.03% of the stock.
• Alphabet recently exceeded earnings expectations with $9.11 in quarterly EPS and $119.8 billion in revenue. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $419.86, supported by strong AI and Google Cloud growth.

Sapient Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 25.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 627,201 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 210,242 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.7% of Sapient Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Sapient Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $180,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,852 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue reportedly increased 82% in the second quarter, with backlog reaching $514 billion, while the Gemini app reached approximately 950 million monthly active users. The results reinforce the commercial demand supporting Alphabet’s AI and cloud investments. Google's AI business is booming, so why are DeepMind's biggest names quitting?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to highlight Alphabet’s strong cash generation, balance sheet and valuation relative to its growth prospects. Some market models see the shares reaching $400 as Cloud momentum and AI monetization continue. Price Prediction: Google Will Hit $400 on This Date
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s expanded Google Cloud partnership with AI lab Mirendil, reportedly worth more than $100 million over multiple years, provides another example of demand for its computing infrastructure. Mirendil Google Cloud deal

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $354.30 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.60 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $355.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $340.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Dbs Bank upped their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. HSBC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Pivotal Research reissued a "buy" rating and set a $475.00 target price (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $419.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total value of $2,232,808.20. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 in the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Profile

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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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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