Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Baxter Bros Inc.

Key Points

• Baxter Bros Inc. reduced its Alphabet stake by 3.5% in the first quarter, selling 3,337 shares and leaving it with 93,158 shares valued at about $26.8 million. Alphabet still ranks as the fund’s 6th largest holding.
• Alphabet continues to receive upbeat analyst and investor attention, with news highlighted by Warren Buffett backing Berkshire Hathaway’s Alphabet investment and Zacks upgrading the stock to strong-buy. Multiple analysts also cited AI momentum, cloud backlog, and earnings growth as positives.
• Despite strong fundamentals and solid recent earnings, Alphabet faces ongoing regulatory pressure in Europe, including potential new EU fines and other antitrust scrutiny. The company also reported insider selling and recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

Baxter Bros Inc. decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,158 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,337 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.3% of Baxter Bros Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Baxter Bros Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Symmetry Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,476,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Private Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the first quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $730,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Members Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,014,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,489,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight 2811 Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $978,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Warren Buffett said he initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s Alphabet investment, a high-profile endorsement that is helping sentiment around Alphabet (GOOGL). Warren Buffett tells CNBC he initiated Berkshire Hathaway's investment in Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst previews say Alphabet’s AI momentum, cloud backlog, and earnings growth expectations could support another strong quarter, keeping investors upbeat ahead of results. Alphabet’s AI Spending Question Looms Over Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Alphabet to strong-buy, citing earnings growth expectations and attractive fundamentals relative to its valuation. Zacks upgrade to strong-buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet expanded its clean-energy commitments with its largest solar and battery storage purchase yet, which supports its long-term infrastructure strategy but is not an immediate earnings driver. Google's biggest clean power project is 40 miles north of xAI's unpermitted gas power plant
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also drew attention for a new collaboration with INVIDI Technologies to extend addressable advertising to set-top boxes, a potentially helpful ad-tech expansion but still early-stage. INVIDI Technologies Collaborates with Google to Integrate Google Ad Manager
• Negative Sentiment: The European Commission is preparing new fines against Google, renewing regulatory risk and adding pressure to Alphabet’s legal overhang. EU Prepares to Fine Google as Part of Increased Big Tech Enforcement
• Negative Sentiment: Google is also fighting antitrust scrutiny in Europe and Switzerland, including efforts to preserve a court ruling that overturned a $1.7 billion EU fine and a new Swiss probe over Android search defaults. Google urges EU top court to back ruling scrapping $1.7 billion antitrust fine
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reports raised concerns about Google’s AI search tools and a DeepMind researcher’s resignation over the company’s Pentagon work, both of which could add reputational risk. A DeepMind researcher resigned over its AI military deal

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $515.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. President Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, New Street Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Three investment 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.73.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $370.92 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.24. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $370.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $337.62. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $180.48 and a 52-week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. 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 is presently 6.71%.

Alphabet Company 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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