Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by AMI Asset Management Corp

Key Points

• AMI Asset Management Corp cut its Alphabet stake by 17.8% in the first quarter, selling 83,292 shares and leaving it with 385,650 shares valued at about $110.9 million. Alphabet remains the firm’s second-largest holding, making up 7.1% of its portfolio.
• Despite some recent selling by investors and insiders, Alphabet still has strong institutional backing, with about 40.03% of shares owned by institutional investors. Major analysts remain constructive overall, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $413.54.
• Alphabet continues to post solid operating results and shareholder returns, recently beating quarterly earnings expectations and raising its dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21. The stock opened at $367.03, below its consensus target but near the upper end of its 52-week range.

AMI Asset Management Corp trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 17.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 385,650 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 83,292 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 7.1% of AMI Asset Management Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. AMI Asset Management Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $110,897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $21,630,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Evercore raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Freedom Capital lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $390.00 target price (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Phillip Securities boosted their target price on Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.54.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511 in the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is drawing bullish sentiment from investors and analysts as a top AI name, with one report highlighting billionaire Jeffrey Talpins’ view that GOOGL is among the best AI stocks to own.
• Positive Sentiment: Google-backed Proxima Fusion raised €411 million in a major financing round, underscoring Alphabet’s continued involvement in frontier energy and AI-adjacent innovation. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage focused on Google Cloud suggests the segment is increasingly seen as a key growth engine for Alphabet, reinforcing the market’s confidence in its AI and cloud strategy. Trefis article
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to be highlighted in “final trades” and stock-picking segments, which can support near-term sentiment by keeping the name in focus for traders. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet announced its Made by Google Pixel event for August 12, which keeps hardware and consumer-device expectations in view but is not a major immediate catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Articles comparing Alphabet with Palantir and Taiwan Semiconductor mostly frame GOOGL as a benchmark AI and cloud leader rather than signaling a direct new catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: TechCrunch reported that Google is expanding AI training to include more user-uploaded media by default unless users opt out, which could revive privacy concerns and regulatory scrutiny. TechCrunch article
• Negative Sentiment: BusinessInsider noted that Waymo faces growing competition in robotaxi usage from Zoox, reminding investors that Alphabet’s autonomous-driving efforts still face competitive pressure. BusinessInsider article

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $367.03 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average is $372.05 and its 200 day moving average is $335.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $172.77 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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