CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 1,508 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• CENTRAL TRUST Co reduced its Alphabet stake by 0.6% in the first quarter, selling 1,508 shares and ending with 268,417 shares valued at about $77.2 million.
• Wall Street sentiment on Alphabet remains mostly positive: analysts’ consensus rating is Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $413.13 after several firms reiterated or raised bullish targets.
• Alphabet’s latest quarter showed strong fundamentals, with EPS of $5.11 beating estimates and revenue of $109.9 billion topping expectations; the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 268,417 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,508 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.5% of CENTRAL TRUST Co's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. CENTRAL TRUST Co's holdings in Alphabet were worth $77,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its position 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 valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 3,120 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial set a $430.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.13.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,132,701. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business's 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 151,523 shares of company stock worth $4,863,526. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain constructive on Alphabet’s growth outlook, pointing to rising advertising revenue and AI-driven ad tools as support for further upside. Alphabet Benefits From Rising Advertising Revenues: More Upside Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Alphabet is joining the Dow were viewed as a sign of prestige and long-term institutional support for the stock. Google Parent Alphabet Is Joining the Dow. Time to Buy?
• Positive Sentiment: Apple is reportedly paying Alphabet about $1 billion a year to use Gemini in Siri, highlighting another monetization path for Google’s AI platform even if the deal is smaller than Google’s search-payment arrangement with Apple. Apple Is Paying Google $1 Billion a Year for AI. Here's Who the Real Winner Is.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wedbush said the recent sell-off in major AI names looks more like short-term investor impatience than a breakdown in the AI trade, suggesting the broader pullback may be a buying opportunity. Wedbush brushes off tech sell-off as buying chance in multi-year AI bull run
• Neutral Sentiment: Google Finance launched a new app and upgraded portfolio-tracking features, which improve the product offering but are unlikely to move the stock on their own. Google Finance Debuts App and Investment Tracking Capabilities
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet is facing renewed concern over AI talent departures, including reports of senior researchers leaving for rivals such as Anthropic and OpenAI, which raises questions about execution in Gemini and its broader AI strategy. Alphabet Shares Fall After Report on Further AI Talent Departures
• Negative Sentiment: Google is also drawing criticism for tougher negotiations with publishers over AI content access, potentially worsening relations with media partners already seeing traffic declines from AI search changes. Google looks to bleed publishers with new AI partnerships that would cull their content
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports say AI-focused stocks, including Alphabet, are under pressure as investors question whether the “all-in on AI” trade has gone too far in the near term. PLTR, GOOG and MSFT Forecasts – AI Names Struggling at the Moment

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $337.39 on Monday. 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 $4.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $171.73 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $368.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $333.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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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