First United Bank & Trust Sells 5,381 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• First United Bank & Trust cut its Alphabet stake by 23.8% in the first quarter, selling 5,381 shares and leaving it with 17,206 shares valued at about $4.95 million.
• Despite that trim, institutional ownership remains heavy: Alphabet is still widely held by major investors, and 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutions overall.
• Wall Street sentiment is positive, with multiple analysts raising price targets and Alphabet carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average target price of $413.54.

First United Bank & Trust trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 23.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,206 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,381 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.6% of First United Bank & Trust's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. First United Bank & Trust's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after buying an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after buying an additional 3,218,852 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating and issued a $460.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.54.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $359.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $172.77 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $370.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $334.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud is gaining traction in enterprise AI and banking, with new wins like Jack Henry and Intesa Sanpaolo supporting Alphabet’s cloud growth story. GOOGL's AI Cloud Strategy Gets a Boost From Jack Henry: What's Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to frame Alphabet as a strong growth and momentum stock, reflecting confidence in earnings and AI-driven upside. Here's Why Alphabet (GOOGL) is a Strong Momentum Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s disruption of a proxy network used in malware operations supports its security reputation and could modestly lift sentiment around the platform. Google disrupts NetNut proxy network used in malware operations
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary around AI shopping and agentic commerce suggests Alphabet’s Gemini ecosystem could become a larger long-term growth catalyst. Agentic Shopping Is Coming. These Stocks Will Ride Walmart's Google AI Bet.
• Neutral Sentiment: Small insider sales by Alphabet executives and directors appear routine and do not by themselves change the stock’s outlook. Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL Insider John Kent Walker Sells 8,998 Shares
• Negative Sentiment: The EU court upheld a huge Android antitrust fine, extending Alphabet’s regulatory overhang and keeping legal risk in focus. EU top court dismisses Google fight against record €4.1 billion EU antitrust fine
• Negative Sentiment: Swedish court damages in the comparison-shopping case add another sign that regulators are willing to punish Google’s search and shopping practices. Swedish court orders Google pay $1.46 bn for favoring its price comparisons

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511 in the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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