Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 18,982 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC reduced its Alphabet stake by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 18,982 shares and leaving it with 411,316 shares worth about $128.7 million.
• Alphabet continues to draw strong institutional and analyst interest, with hedge funds owning 40.03% of the stock and Wall Street maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus target price of $413.13.
• The company beat Q1 expectations with EPS of $5.11 versus $2.64 expected and revenue of $109.9 billion, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 411,316 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 18,982 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 4.3% of Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $128,742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,132,000. Argent Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 17,200 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,384,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Avise Financial Cooperative Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $482,000. Vista Cima Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 99.0% during the fourth quarter. Vista Cima Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,937 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $70,947,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the transaction, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $445.00 price objective (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $393.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $356.38 on Thursday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $357.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $329.64. The firm has a market cap of $4.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.00 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts turned more optimistic on Alphabet’s 2027 outlook, citing strong AI and Google Cloud growth potential. Veteran Analyst Firm Resets Alphabet Forecast for 2027
• Positive Sentiment: Google introduced new Gemini features for small businesses, which could help drive AI adoption and future subscription revenue. Google Debuts Gemini Features Geared to Small Businesses
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlighted Alphabet as a strong long-term growth story, supported by Search, Cloud, and AI. Why Alphabet (GOOGL) is a Top Growth Stock for the Long-Term
• Neutral Sentiment: Google Cloud disruption in India from a third-party facility fire appears temporary, but it underscores operational and infrastructure risk. Fire at third-party facility disrupts Google Cloud network traffic in India
• Negative Sentiment: A California judge denied Alphabet’s bid for a new trial in the youth social media addiction case, keeping litigation risk alive for YouTube. Market Chatter: Google, Meta Platforms Denied New Trial in Youth Social Media Addiction Case by California Judge
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of Gemini/Google Workspace AI errors and downtime may weigh on sentiment around product reliability. Gemini Is Down? Live Updates on Google Workspace's AI Errors

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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