ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 16,742 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 211.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,663 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.3% of ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,092,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 24,048 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,915,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125 shares during the period. Kaizen Financial Strategies increased its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 11,455 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,294,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. now owns 925 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Alphabet by 30.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,013,281 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,441,619,000 after buying an additional 1,178,514 shares during the period. Finally, Glass Wealth Management Co LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 44,035 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,663,000 after buying an additional 1,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly developed a new AI server chip, “Frozen v2,” to make Gemini run more efficiently, which could improve margins and help ease compute constraints for Google Cloud. Reuters: Google plans new chip to run Gemini models more efficiently
• Positive Sentiment: Google released new Gemini models, including cheaper and more efficient versions, signaling continued AI product momentum ahead of earnings. TechCrunch: Google releases three new Gemini models
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary remain constructive on Alphabet going into Q2 results, with expectations that Search and Google Cloud can still deliver strong growth. Yahoo Finance: Alphabet Q2 Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s earnings report on Wednesday is expected to be a major market test for AI spending, cloud growth, and capital expenditure discipline. Invezz: What to expect from Alphabet's Q2 earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is also facing a cluster of securities-fraud investigation headlines, though these are largely legal overhangs at this stage rather than new operational news. PR Newswire: Securities fraud investigation continues
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that a flagship Gemini model remains delayed, adding to investor worries that heavy AI spending may not translate into results quickly enough. Reuters: Alphabet's Gemini delay, spending worries loom over earnings

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. New Street Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $414.54.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 in the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $347.15 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm has a market cap of $4.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.46 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The business has a 50-day moving average of $367.35 and a 200 day moving average of $338.65.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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.