Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Wesbanco Bank Inc.

Key Points

• Wesbanco Bank trimmed its Alphabet stake by 2.2% in the first quarter, selling 7,633 shares and leaving it with 343,807 shares valued at about $98.9 million. Alphabet remained Wesbanco’s fifth-largest holding.
• Alphabet insiders also sold shares recently, including director John L. Hennessy and insider John Kent Walker. The article notes insiders sold a total of 160,465 shares worth about $8.0 million over the past three months.
• Despite the selling, Alphabet’s fundamentals and outlook remain strong: it beat quarterly EPS estimates, raised its dividend to $0.22 per share, and analysts generally rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $413.54.

Wesbanco Bank Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 343,807 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,633 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.7% of Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $98,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud is gaining traction in enterprise AI and banking, with new wins like Jack Henry and Intesa Sanpaolo supporting Alphabet’s cloud growth story. GOOGL's AI Cloud Strategy Gets a Boost From Jack Henry: What's Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to frame Alphabet as a strong growth and momentum stock, reflecting confidence in earnings and AI-driven upside. Here's Why Alphabet (GOOGL) is a Strong Momentum Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s disruption of a proxy network used in malware operations supports its security reputation and could modestly lift sentiment around the platform. Google disrupts NetNut proxy network used in malware operations
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary around AI shopping and agentic commerce suggests Alphabet’s Gemini ecosystem could become a larger long-term growth catalyst. Agentic Shopping Is Coming. These Stocks Will Ride Walmart's Google AI Bet.
• Neutral Sentiment: Small insider sales by Alphabet executives and directors appear routine and do not by themselves change the stock’s outlook. Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL Insider John Kent Walker Sells 8,998 Shares
• Negative Sentiment: The EU court upheld a huge Android antitrust fine, extending Alphabet’s regulatory overhang and keeping legal risk in focus. EU top court dismisses Google fight against record €4.1 billion EU antitrust fine
• Negative Sentiment: Swedish court damages in the comparison-shopping case add another sign that regulators are willing to punish Google’s search and shopping practices. Swedish court orders Google pay $1.46 bn for favoring its price comparisons

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

GOOGL stock opened at $359.91 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $172.77 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $370.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $334.23. 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 company has a market cap of $4.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. 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%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating and issued a $460.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, China Renaissance lifted their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.54.

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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