Apollon Wealth Management LLC Acquires 62,785 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its Alphabet stake by 21% in the first quarter, adding 62,785 shares to bring its total to 361,410 shares worth about $103.9 million.
• Alphabet continues to draw constructive analyst support, with several firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus Moderate Buy rating and average target price of $413.54.
• The company faces ongoing regulatory pressure, including the EU court upholding its €4.1 billion Android antitrust fine and a separate Swedish ruling ordering nearly $2 billion in a price-comparison dispute.

Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 21.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 361,410 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 62,785 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.7% of Apollon Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Apollon Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $103,927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several recent stories highlight Alphabet’s AI and cloud momentum, including Google Cloud traction with enterprise customers like Jack Henry and growing use of Google’s cloud tech by Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo, which supports the bull case for future growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer argued that Alphabet still looks cheap, reinforcing a valuation-supportive narrative for GOOGL after its pullback. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment remains constructive, with Wells Fargo keeping an overweight rating and multiple analysts maintaining buy recommendations, which may help support the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s insider selling by John Kent Walker appears routine and is not, by itself, a major fundamental concern for investors. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around Alphabet’s growing role in AI-powered shopping, robotaxis, and other ecosystem developments adds to the long-term story, but these are more thesis-supportive than immediate catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The biggest drag is the EU Supreme Court decision upholding Alphabet’s €4.1 billion Android antitrust fine, which reinforces legal and regulatory overhangs for the stock. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: A separate Swedish court ruling ordered Alphabet to pay nearly $2 billion in a price-comparison dispute, adding to the sense that antitrust and competition risks remain active. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Arete Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Freedom Capital lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.54.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $359.91 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $371.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $334.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $172.77 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, analysts predict 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. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

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.

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.