Carnegie Investment Counsel Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Carnegie Investment Counsel trimmed its Alphabet stake by 4.2% in the first quarter, selling 26,224 shares but still holding 602,258 shares worth about $170.5 million. Alphabet remains the firm’s largest position, making up roughly 3.3% of its portfolio.
• Several recent headlines around Alphabet center on AI momentum and spending concerns. The company reportedly developed a new AI server chip and released new Gemini models, but Reuters also reported delays for a flagship Gemini model, raising questions about whether heavy AI investment is translating quickly enough.
• Alphabet’s latest financial and market backdrop remains strong: it beat earnings and revenue expectations last quarter, raised its quarterly dividend, and continues to receive mostly bullish analyst coverage with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and an average price target of $414.54.

Carnegie Investment Counsel lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 602,258 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 26,224 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.3% of Carnegie Investment Counsel's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Alphabet were worth $170,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

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

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $347.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $367.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $338.65. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.46 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $438.00 target price (up from $416.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday. HSBC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. China Renaissance lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $414.54.

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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