Cozad Asset Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Cozad Asset Management cut its Alphabet stake by 6.2% in the first quarter, selling 6,062 shares and retaining 91,986 shares valued at approximately $26.5 million. Alphabet represented about 2.1% of the firm’s portfolio.
• Institutional sentiment remained mixed, with several investors increasing their holdings; institutions collectively owned 40.03% of Alphabet. Insiders, however, sold roughly 600,547 shares worth $16.3 million over the past 90 days.
• Alphabet reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, including $119.8 billion in revenue and $9.11 in EPS. Analysts maintained a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $419.86, while the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share.

Cozad Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 91,986 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,062 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.1% of Cozad Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Cozad Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $277,696,000 after purchasing an additional 93,293 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,902,000. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co increased its holdings in Alphabet by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 118,966 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,236,000 after buying an additional 17,415 shares during the period. Finally, KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 66.1% during the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 22,877 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,161,000 after buying an additional 9,105 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue reportedly increased 82% in the second quarter, with backlog reaching $514 billion, while the Gemini app reached approximately 950 million monthly active users. The results reinforce the commercial demand supporting Alphabet’s AI and cloud investments. Google's AI business is booming, so why are DeepMind's biggest names quitting?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to highlight Alphabet’s strong cash generation, balance sheet and valuation relative to its growth prospects. Some market models see the shares reaching $400 as Cloud momentum and AI monetization continue. Price Prediction: Google Will Hit $400 on This Date
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s expanded Google Cloud partnership with AI lab Mirendil, reportedly worth more than $100 million over multiple years, provides another example of demand for its computing infrastructure. Mirendil Google Cloud deal

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. New Street Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. HSBC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $393.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $419.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total transaction of $27,337.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,305,738.46. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $354.30 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.60 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $355.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $340.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.80, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Alphabet 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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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.

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