Cannell & Spears LLC Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Cannell & Spears LLC cut its Alphabet stake by 7.1% in the first quarter, selling 27,683 shares and retaining 363,235 shares valued at approximately $100.9 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds own about 40.03% of Alphabet.
• Alphabet reported quarterly earnings of $9.11 per share, far above the $2.89 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $119.8 billion. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $419.86.
• Alphabet shares opened at $373.51, near their 52-week high of $408.61, as insiders sold shares during the quarter. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, equivalent to a 0.2% annual yield.

Cannell & Spears LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 363,235 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 27,683 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.0% of Cannell & Spears LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Cannell & Spears LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $100,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co boosted its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings and analyst support: Alphabet’s latest results significantly exceeded consensus expectations, reinforcing confidence in accelerating revenue and profit growth. Multiple reports describe the stock as undervalued or a favorable growth investment, while analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating. Alphabet Stock is Climbing: What's Going On Today?
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure positioning: Commentary argues Alphabet is better equipped than many peers to absorb the cost of Nvidia chips while benefiting from expanding AI demand. Investors also see Google Search, cloud services, and AI infrastructure as complementary growth engines. Berkshire Hathaway’s reported investment in Alphabet adds to the bullish narrative. The Nvidia Tax: Alphabet Mitigates It Better
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo validation: An analysis reported that Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxis crash substantially less often than human-driven vehicles. While Waymo is not yet a major earnings contributor, the finding supports Alphabet’s long-term autonomous-driving and technology portfolio. Waymo robotaxis found to crash 68% less often
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial AI momentum: Google’s partnership with Paris Saint-Germain and participation in upcoming White House AI-regulation discussions highlight expanding enterprise and institutional interest in its AI capabilities. Paris Saint-Germain partners with Google on AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s lead in cloud market share remains a competitive concern, although Alphabet’s Google Cloud continues to grow and benefits from the same AI spending cycle. Microsoft Races Ahead of Google in the Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are weighing whether heavy AI capital expenditures will temporarily pressure margins or create durable long-term returns.
• Negative Sentiment: A Google Earth tool reportedly made it possible to create AI-generated fake satellite imagery, raising questions about safeguards, misinformation, and potential regulatory scrutiny. For a Day, Google Made It Easy to Spoof Satellite Imagery

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the 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 sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $373.51 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $357.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $339.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.12 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

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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