Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Absher Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• Absher Wealth Management trimmed its Alphabet stake by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, but Alphabet still ranked as its sixth-largest holding at 4.1% of the portfolio, worth about $34.9 million.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 versus $2.64 expected and revenue of $109.9 billion versus $106.98 billion expected. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21.
• Wall Street sentiment remains bullish, with multiple firms raising price targets and Alphabet receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a target price of $407.86. The stock was trading near $387.35, close to its 12-month high of $402.00.

Absher Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 111,385 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,902 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 4.1% of Absher Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Absher Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its position in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $69,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $407.86.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $387.35 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $323.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $314.66. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.16 and a 12 month high of $402.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $9,859,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $508,028,012.80. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 158,553 shares of company stock worth $47,951,856 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is rolling out Gemini-powered Android features that let AI understand screen context and complete multi-step tasks, strengthening its AI platform and expanding practical use cases across its ecosystem.
• Positive Sentiment: Google is bringing “agentic” AI, Gemini in Chrome, and new AI-native “Googlebooks” laptops to market, signaling a broader product cycle that could support future revenue growth and keep Alphabet competitive with Apple and other tech giants.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s partnership with Affirm and Klarna to embed pay-over-time options into Gemini and Google Search could boost commerce activity, improve conversion rates, and make Google Pay more valuable to consumers and merchants.
• Positive Sentiment: Google-backed Isomorphic Labs raised $2.1 billion to scale AI-driven drug discovery, underscoring investor enthusiasm for Alphabet’s broader AI ecosystem and the value of its venture investments.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Alphabet is exploring first-ever yen bond financing to fund AI infrastructure suggest the company is willing to invest aggressively in compute capacity, which investors may view as necessary to defend and extend its AI lead.
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Alphabet nearing Nvidia in market value and being at the center of the AI boom highlights strong momentum, but these are more market narratives than immediate fundamental catalysts.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s heavier AI spending and new debt issuance may pressure near-term margins and raise concerns that the company is trading balance-sheet strength for a more capital-intensive growth strategy.
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s robotaxi recall over a self-driving software issue is a reminder that Alphabet’s broader “Other Bets” businesses still carry operational and regulatory execution risks.

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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